n 


THE   AMERICAN  LECTURES 
ON  THE  HISTORY  OF  RELIGIONS. 


I.  Buddhism. — The  History  and  Literature  of  Bud- 
dhism.    By  T.  W.  Rhys-Davids,  LL.D.,  Ph.D. 

II.  Primitive  Religions. — The  Religions  of  Primitive 
Peoples.    By  D.  G.  Brinton,  A.M.,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  ScD. 

III.  Israel. — Jewish  Religions.  Life  after  the  Exile. 
By  Rev.  T.  K.  Cheyne,  M.A.,  D.D. 

IV.  Israel. — Religion  of  Israel  to  the  Exile.  By  Karl 
Euno/.,  D.D. 

\'.  Ancient  Egyptians. — The  Religion  of  the  Ancient 
Egyptians.     By  G.  Steindorff,  Ph.D. 

VI.  Religion  in  Japan. — The  Development  of  Re- 
ligion in  Japan.     By  George  W.  Knox,  D.D. 

VII.  The  Veda.— The  Religion  of  the  Veda.  By 
Maurice  Bloomfield,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 

VIII.  Babylonia  and  Assyria.  Aspects  of  Religious 
Belief  and  Practice  in  Babylonia  and  Assyria.  By  MoRRlS 
Jastrow,  Jr.,  Ph.D. 

IX.  Astrology  and  Religion  among  the  Greeks 
and  Romans.    By  Franz  Cumont,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 

X.  Religions  in  China. — Universism:  A  Key  to  the 
Study  of  Taoism  and  Confucianism.  By  J.  J.  M.  de 
GROOT,Pxh.D.,LL.D. 

XI.  Mohammedanism.   By  C.  Snouck  Hurgronje 

XII.  Phases  of  Early  Christianity,  loo  A.D. — 250 
A.D.     By  J.  EsTLiN  Carpenter,  D.Litt. 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 

NEW   YORK    AND    LONDON 


American   Lectures    on    the   History   of  Religions 

Phases 

of 

Early  Christianity 

Six  Lectures 

by 
J.  Estlin  Carpenter,  D.Litt. 

Wilde    Reader   in    Natural    and    Comparative    Religion    in    the 

University  of  Oxford,   and  Late   Principal  of 

Manchester  College 


« 


G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New  York  and   London 

XLbc    Ivnicketbocher    press 

1916 


Copyright,  1916 

BY 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S   SONS 


"Cbe  "knicfterbocfter  pre8«,  "Kew  IBotft 


announcement; 


-^  T^HE   American    Lectures    on    the   History   of 

i3  Religions  are  delivered  under  the  auspices 

of  the  American  Committee  for  Lectures  on  the 

History  of  Religions.      This  Committee  was  or- 

--  ganized  in    1892,   for  the  purpose  of  instituting 

^i  "popular   courses  in   the    History   of   Religions, 

•''  somewhat  after  the  style  of  the  Hibbert  Lectures 

in  England,  to  be  delivered  by  the  best  scholars  of 

.  Europe  and  this  country,  in  various  cities,  such 

^  as  Baltimore,   Boston,    Brooklyn,  Chicago,   New 

York,  Philadelphia." 

The  terms  of  association  under  which  the  Com- 
mittee exists  are  as  follows: 

I. — The  object  of  this  Committee  shall  be  to 
provide  courses  of  lectures  on  the  history  of  re- 
ligions, to  be  delivered  in  various  cities. 

2. — The  Committee  shall  be  composed  of  dele- 
gates from  the  institutions  agreeing  to  co-operate, 


Vti^^nr:f€\ 


iv  Announcement 

with  such  additional  members  as  may  be  chosen 
by  these  delegates. 

3. — These  delegates — one  from  each  institution, 
with  the  additional  members  selected — shall  con- 
stitute themselves  a  council  under  the  name  of 
the  "American  Committee  for  Lectures  on  the 
History  of  Religions." 

4.— The  Committee  shall  elect  out  of  its  number 
a  Chairman,  a  Secretary,  and  a  Treasurer. 

5.— All  matters  of  local  detail  shall  be  left  to  the 
co-operating  institutions  under  whose  auspices 
the  lectures  are  to  be  delivered. 

6. — A  course  of  lectures  on  some  religion,  or 
phase  of  religion,  from  an  historical  point  of  view, 
or  on  a  subject  germane  to  the  study  of  religions, 
shall  be  delivered  annually,  or  at  such  intervals  as 
may  be  found  practicable,  in  the  different  cities 
represented  by  this  Committee. 

7.— The  Committee  (a)  shall  be  charged  with  the 
selection  of  the  lectures,  (&)  shall  have  charge  of 
the  funds,  (c)  shall  assign  the  time  for  the  lectures 
in  each  city,  and  perform  such  other  functions  as 
may  be  necessary. 


Announcement  v 

8. — Polemical  subjects,  as  well  as  polemics  in 
the  treatment  of  subjects,  shall  be  positively 
excluded. 

9. — The  lectures  shall  be  delivered  in  the  various 
cities  between  the  months  of  September  and 
June. 

10. — The  copyright  of  the  lectures  shall  be  the 
property  of  the  Committee. 

II. — The  compensation  of  the  lecturer  shall  be 
fixed  in  each  case  by  the  Committee. 

12. — The  lecturer  shall  be  paid  in  instalments 
after  each  course,  until  he  shall  have  received  half 
of  the  entire  compensation.  Of  the  remaining 
half,  one  half  shall  be  paid  to  him  upon  delivery 
of  the  manuscript,  properly  prepared  for  the  press, 
and  the  second  half  on  the  publication  of  the 
volume,  less  a  deduction  for  corrections  made  by 
the  author  in  the  proofs. 

The  Committee  as  now  constituted  is  as  follows : 

Prof.  Crawford  H.  Toy,  Chairman,  7  Lowell  St., 
Cambridge,  Mass.;  Rev.  Dr.  John  P.  Peters, 
Treasurer,  227  W.  99th  St.,  New  York  City;  Prof. 
Morris  Jastrow,  Jr.,  Secretary,  248  So.  23d  St., 


vi  Announcement 

Philadelphia,  Pa. ;  President  Francis  Brown,  Union 
Theological  Seminary,  New  York  City;  Prof. 
Richard  Gottheil,  Columbia  University,  New 
York  City;  Pres.  Harry  Pratt  Judson,  University 
of  Chicago,  Chicago,  111. ;  Prof.  Paul  Haupt,  Johns 
Hopkins  University,  Baltimore,  Md. ;  Mr.  Charles 
D.  Atkins,  Director,  Brooklyn  Institute  of  Arts 
and  Sciences ;  Prof .  E.  W.  Hopkins,  Yale  University, 
New  Haven,  Conn. ;  Prof.  Edward  Knox  Mitchell, 
Hartford  Theological  Seminary,  Hartford,  Conn.; 
President  F.  K.  Sanders,  Washburn  College, 
Topeka,  Kan. ;  Prof.  H.  P.  Smith,  Meadville  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  Meadville,  Pa.;  Prof.  W.  J. 
Hinke,  Auburn  Theological  Seminary,  Auburn, 
N.  Y.;  Prof.  Kemper  Fullerton,  Oberlin  Theolo- 
gical Seminary,  Oberlin,  N.  Y. 

The  lecturers  in  the  course  of  American  Lec- 
tures on  the  History  of  Religions  and  the  titles  of 
their  volumes  are  as  follows: 
i894-i895~Prof.  T.  W.  Rhys-Davids,  Ph.D.,— 

Buddhism. 
1 896-1 897— Prof.  Daniel  G.  Brinton,  M.D.,  LL.D. 

— Religions  cj  Primitive  Peoples. 


Announcement  vu 

1 897-1 898— Rev.  Prof.  T.  K.  Cheyne,  D.D.— 
Jewish  Religious  Life  after  the  Exile. 

1 898-1 899— Prof.  Karl  Budde,  D.D.— Religion  of 
Israel  to  the  Exile. 

1 904- 1 905— Prof.  George  Steindorff,  Ph.D.— The 
Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians. 

1905-1906 — Prof.  George  W.  Xnox,  D.D.,  LL.D. 
— The  Development  of  Religion  in 
Japan. 

1906-1907 — Prof.  Maurice  Bloomfield,  Ph.D., 
LL.D.— The  Religion  of  the  Veda. 

1907-1908— Prof.  A.  V.  W.  Jackson,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 
— The  Religion  of  Persia.  * 

1909-1910 — Prof.  Morris  Jastrow,  Jr.,  Ph.D.— 
Aspects  of  Religious  Belief  and 
Practice  in  Babylonia  and  Assyria. 

1910-1911 — Prof.  J.  J.  M.  DeGroot— The  De- 
velopment of  Religion  in  China. 

« This  course  was  not  published  by  the  Committee,  but  will 
form  part  of  Prof.  Jackson's  volume  on  the  Religion  of  Persia  in 
the  series  of  Handbooks  on  the  History  of  Religions,  edited  by- 
Prof.  Morris  Jastrow,  Jr.,  and  published  by  Messrs.  Ginn  & 
Company  of  Boston.  Prof.  Jastrow's  volume  is,  therefore,  the 
eighth  in  the  series. 


viii  Announcement 

1911-1912 — Prof.  Franz  Cumont.' — Astrology  and 
Religion    among    the    Greeks    and 
Romans. 
1 9 14 — Prof.  J.  Estlin  Carpenter. — Phases  of 
Early  Christianity. 
The  lecturer  for  19 15  was  the  Unitarian  Theo- 
logian, J.  Estlin  Carpenter,  Principal  Emeritus  of 
Manchester  College,  Oxford.     Born  in  1844,  Pro- 
fessor Carpenter  served  as  pastor  of  the  Oakfield 
Road  Church  at  CHfton,  1866-69,  and  of  the  Mill 
Hill  Chapel  at  Leeds,  1869-75.     From  that  date 
down  to  1906  he  held  the  position  at  first  of  lec- 
turer at  Manchester  College,  London  and  Oxford, 
and  then    of   Principal   of    Manchester   College, 
Oxford.     Among  his   more   important   published 
works  may  be  mentioned :  Life  a?id  Work  of  Mary 
Carpenter,  1879;  The  First  Three  Gospels  and  their 
Relations,  iSgo  •,The  Bible  in  the  Nineteenth  Century, 
1903;  James  Martineau,  Theologian  and  Teacher, 
1905;    The  Historical  Jesus  and  the  Theological 
Christ;  Buddhist  and  Christian  Parallels  in  Studies 

'  Owing  to  special  circumstances,  Prof.  Cumont's  volume  was 
published  before  that  of  Prof.  DeGroot.  It  is,  therefore,  the 
ninth  in  the  series  and  that  of  Prof.  DeGroot  the  tenth. 


Announcement  ix 

in  the  History  oj  Religions  presented  to  C.  H.  Toy, 
191 2;  Comparative  Religion,  19 13.  He  was  joint 
editor  with  Professor  Rhys-Davids  of  the  Digha 
Nikaya,  1890,  1902,  and  with  G.  Harford  Bat- 
tersby  of  the  Composition  of  the  Hexateuch  accord- 
ing to  the  Revised  Version,  1900,  and  with  P.  H. 
Wicksted  of  Studies  in  Theology. 

The  series  of  lectures  contained  in  the  present 
volume  was  delivered  either  wholly  or  in  part 
before  the  following  bodies:  The  Lowell  Institute, 
Yale  University,  The  First  Unitarian  Congrega- 
tional Church  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  Union  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  The  First  Unitarian  Church 
of  Philadelphia,  Rochester  Theological  Seminary, 
Auburn  Theological  Seminary,  Meadville  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  Oberlin  College,  Western  Reserve 
University  (Cleveland). 

Richard  Gottheil 
Crawford  H.  Toy 
Committee  on  Publication. 

April,  1916. 


PREFACE 

THE  period  selected  for  illustration  in  the 
following  Lectures  extends  roughly  over  a 
century  and  a  half,  100-250  a.d.  Christianity 
had  been  launched  into  the  Roman  Empire;  it 
was  already  involved  in  the  conflict  with  imperial- 
ism and  popular  mythology,  and  exposed  to  the 
various  influences  of  Hellenic  philosophy  and 
Oriental  religions.  In  the  attempt  to  delineate  in 
brief  the  phases  of  its  inner  development  much 
had  to  be  taken  for  granted  and  much  left  unsaid. 
Where  every  step  has  been  the  subject  of  eager 
debate  among  generations  of  controversialists, 
the  adequate  treatment  of  disputed  issues  in  a 
small  space  is  of  course  impossible.  Students, 
however,  will  be  at  no  loss  for  guides  to  supple- 
ment or  correct  what  is  offered  here;  and  if  this 
book  finds  any  readers  unfamiliar  with  the  field 
which  it  traverses  so  rapidly,  the  citations  from 
early  Christian  literature  will  provide  them  with 
clues  for  further  enquiry.  The  central  theme  is 
that  of  "salvation,"  and  the  growth  of  Christian 
Doctrine  and  the  rise  of  Christian  Institutions 
are  considered  in  relation  to  it. 

My  obligations  to  the  innumerable  writers  on 
this  subject — the  most  important  in  the  whole 


xu 


Preface 


range  of  the  history  of  religions  save  that  of 
the  origins  of  Christianity  itself — will  be  obvious 
on  every  page;  but  my  special  acknowledgments 
are  due  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  J.  E.  Odgers,  late  Lec- 
turer on  Church  History  in  Manchester  College, 
Oxford,  England,  who  most  kindly  read  the  whole 
work  in  manuscript,  and  allowed  me  to  profit  by 
his  wide  range  of  knowledge  and  his  literary  skill. 

J.E.C. 

Philadelphia, 
November  8,  1915. 


CONTENTS 


LECTURE   I 


CHRISTIANITY   AS   PERSONAL    SALVATION 
PAGE 


Christianity  in  the  Roman 

Empire I 

Growth  of  its  Literature.  .      4 
The    Apocalypse    and    the 

Fourth  Gospel 6 

Ideas  of  Salvation 10 

In  Gentile  Theology 12 

In  Jewish  Hope 14 

Sin,  Evil  Spirits,  and  Dis- 
ease      17 

Widespread    Belief  in  De- 
mons    22 

Jesus  made  Man  for  their 

Destruction 25 

Salvation  from  "the  Wrath"  26 


PACK 

The  Reign  of  Believers  with 

Christ 28 

The    Resurrection    of    the 

Body 32 

The  Scope  of  Salvation ....   35 
The     Future     Reward     of 

Righteousness 38 

Ascetic  Ideals 41 

Martyrdom 45 

Salvation  as  already  real- 
ized    47 

The  Odes  of  Solomon 48 

Becoming  theos  in  Hellenic 

Theology 51 

In  Christian  Teaching 56 


LECTURE   II 

THE   PERSON   AND    WORK   OF   THE   SAVIOUR 

P.^GE  PAGE 

Jesus  as  "  Lord  " 62  Influences  on  early  Christo- 

Hellcnistic     and     imperial  logy 74 

Usage 64      Ignatius  of  Antioch 77 

Significance  for  the  Apostle  Dangers  of  Gnostic  Teach- 

Paul 66  ing 78 

Survivors  of  the  Jerusalem  Marcion 79 

Community 68  A   primitive  Roman    Con- 

Ebionite  Christianity 72  fession 83 


XIV 


Contents 


PAGE 

The    Apologists    and    the 

Logos 85 

Justin,  Tatian,  Theophilus, 

Athenagoras 90 

The  Argument  from  Scrip- 
ture     94 

Irenaeus  and  the  "Rule  of 

Truth" 96 

Conception  of    the    Incar- 
nation  lOI 

Doctrine  of  Recapitulatio .  .104 
Christianity  at  Carthage.  .106 
Tertullian's  Christology.  .  .  108 
Conception  of  the  Trinity . .  1 1 1 


PAGE 

The  Work  of  the  Saviour..  115 
Clement     of     Rome     and 

Ignatius 116 

Significance  for  Justin 118 

Christianity  as  Revelation.  121 
The  Drama  of  Salvation  in 

Irenaeus 123 

Note  A,  the  Angelic  Pow- 
ers  129 

Note    B,    the    Adoptionist 

Christology 130 

Note  C,  the  Apologists. ...  131 
Note  D,   Types   of    Mon- 
archianism 133 


LECTURE   III 


THE   CHURCH   AS   THE 

PAGE 

The  local  Churches  and  the 

Church  of  God 138 

The  Church  as  a  Spiritual 

Creation 144 

Missionary     Preachers     or 

Apostles 150 

The  Prophets 154 

The  Teachers 158 

Provision  for  Business  Ad- 
ministration   159 

The  Christian  Priesthood.  161 
Ministry  of  "Gifts"  and  of 

"Orders" 165 

Names  of  Church  Oflficers. .  167 
Bishops  and  Presbyters.. . .  171 
Ignatius    and    the    single 

Episcopate 176 

Causes  leading  to  its  De- 
velopment  181 

Intercourse  of  the  Church- 
es  185 


SPHERE   OF   SALVATION 

PAGE 

Duties  of  Leaders 187 

Bishops  and  ritual  Tra- 
dition  189 

Bishops  and  Doctrinal  Tra- 
dition  191 

Irenaeus  on  Church  and 
Scripture 192 

Claim  to  the  Apostolic  Tra- 
dition  195 

Dangers  of  growing  World- 
liness 199 

Montanus  and  the  "New 
Prophecy" 201 

Growth  of  Catholic  Organ- 
ization   205 

The  Canons  of  Hippolytus . .  206 

Note  A,  Did  Jesus  found 
an  Ecclesia? 209 

Note  B,  Tertullian  on  Her- 
esy  210 


Contents 


XV 


LECTURE   IV 


THE   SACRAMENTS   AS  THE   MEANS   OF    SALVATION 


Mystery-Language  in  Chris- 
tianity  213 

Mysteries  at  Eleusis 215 

Mysteries  of  Osiris 218 

Mysteries  of  Isis 220 

Plutarch's  Interpretation.  .225 

The  Rites  of  Mithra 226 

Types  of  Ethnic  Re-birth.  .228 
Baptism  in  theearly  Church.232 
Interpretation  of  the  Apos- 
tle Paul 234 

Imparts  a  Seed  of  Immor- 
tality  238 

Baptism  as  Illumination..  .240 
Preparation  and  Ritual..  .  .241 


Explanations  of  the  Use  of 

Water 246 

Admission  to  the  Eucharist  251 

The  "Lord's  Supper" 25q 

The  Agap6 260 

The  Eucharist 262 

Ideas  of  Thanksgiving 268 

Practice    of    Commemora- 
tion  271 

Communion  through  sacred 

Food 272 

Unity  of  Believers 279 

The  Eucharist  as  a  Sacrifice 


LECTURE   V 


SALVATION    BY   GNOSIS 


Philosophy  in  the  Roman 
Empire 287 

Platonism  and  Pythago- 
reanism 289 

Plutarch  and  the  Daimons  290 

Philo,  the  Logos,  and  the 
Powers 297 

Christianity  and  Philo- 
sophy  304 

The  Gnostics 307 

ValentinuB  and  his  Dis- 
ciples  314 

Gnostic  Conception  of  Sal- 
vation  320 


PAGE 

The  Attitude  of  the  Church.328 
Rise  of  Alexandrian  Christ- 
ianity  330 

Clement  and  the  Christian 

Tradition 332 

The  Church  and  Salvation  335 
Significance  of  Philosophy .  340 
Allegorical    Treatment    of 

Scripture 343 

Doctrine  of  God 345 

Functions  of  the  Word.  .  .  .349 

The  Incarnation 351 

The  true  Gnostic 353 


XVI 


Contents 


LECTURE   VI 


CHRISTIANITY  AT  THE 

PAGE 

Rome,  Carthage,  and  Alex- 
andria  358 

Origen  succeeds  Clement.  .359 

His  Studies 362 

His  Teaching 364 

Labours  on  the  Scriptures .  365 

Settlement  at  Caesarea 367 

Theodicy  in  the  First  Prin- 
ciples  370 

The  Church  and  the  Scrip- 
tures  372 

Doctrine  of  God 378 

Doctrine  of  the  Son 379 

Doctrine  of  the  Spirit 382 

The  Incarnation 383 

The  Death  of  Christ 385 

Souls  and  Salvation 387 

The  Final  Harmony 392 

Problem  of  Post-baptismal 

Sin 394 

Hermas  and  Repentance.  .397 


PARTING  OF  THE  WAYS 

PAGE 

Penitence  and  "Peace"  at 
Carthage 399 

Origen  on  Remission  of 
Sins 401 

Cyprian  at  Carthage 403 

Persecution  under  Decius.  .410 

Treatment  of  the  Lapsed. .  .412 

The  great  Plague 416 

The  Re-baptism  of  Heretics 

418 

The  Church  and  the  Bish- 
ops   420 

The  Bishop  in  the  Didas- 
calia 425 

Treatment  of  unfaithful 
Bishops 426 

Christianity  and  contem- 
porary Religions 428 

Absence  of  dogmatic  Uni- 
formity  432 

Subsequent  Developments .  433 


Phases  of  Early  Christianity 


Phases  of  Early  Christianity 


LECTURE  I 
CHRISTIANITY  AS  PERSONAL  SALVATION 

IN  September,  iii  a.d.,  Gaius  Plinius  Cascilius 
^Secundus  reached  Bithynia  with  the  special 
title  of  "Legate  Propraetor  with  consular  power." 
He  had  not  been  long  in  office  before  he  found  it 
necessary  to  consult  his  imperial  master,  Trajan, 
on  the  treatment  of  the  professors  of  a  "wicked 
and  arrogant  superstition"  endangering  many  of 
both  sexes,  of  all  ages  and  every  rank.  ^  Its  infec- 
tion had  spread  from  the  cities  to  the  villages  and 
the  country  districts.  The  temples  had  been  almost 
deserted;  the  ceremonies  of  religion  had  been  long 
neglected ;  the  farmers  who  brought  fodder  to  feed 
victims  for  the  temple  sacrifices  found  the  markets 
almost  without  purchasers.  What  crimes  were 
alleged  against  those  who  had  wrought  this  change  ? 
They  were  the  followers  of  a  new  faith.  They  met 
on  a  fixed  day  before  the  dawn  and  sang  in  turn 
a  hymn  to  Christ  as  to  a  god;  and  they  bound 

'  Ep.,  X,  xcvi. 


2  Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

themselves  by  an  oath — not  for  any  deeds  of 
darkness — but  to  abstain  from  theft  and  robbery 
and  adultery,  and  to  restore  upon  demand  money 
entrusted  to  their  care.  At  a  second  meeting  they 
shared  a  common  meal  of  harmless  food;  but  in 
deference  to  the  imperial  prohibition  of  clubs  this 
custom  had  been  suspended.  Of  one  grave  offence, 
however,  they  were  guilty.  Confronted  in  court 
with  the  images  of  the  gods,  they  dechned  to  repeat 
a  prayer  at  Pliny's  dictation;  when  wine  and 
incense  were  handed  to  them  with  which  to  invoke 
Trajan's  name  before  his  statue,  they  refused. 

The  Christian  movement  might  be  checked  by 
vigorous  repression  in  Bithynia,  but  it  bore  within 
itself  the  impulses  of  constant  expansion.  Its 
missionaries  followed  the  wide  Dispersion  of  the 
Jews  which  ranged  from  the  highlands  east  of 
Mesopotamia,  in  Elam  and  Media  and  the  distant 
Parthian  kingdom,  to  the  Libyan  coast  and  Rome.  ^ 
The  Jerusalem  community  was,  indeed,  scattered. 
Before  the  city  fell  under  the  Roman  arms,  the 
disciples  had  crossed  the  Jordan  and  sought  refuge 
in  Bella.  In  Csesarea  they  still  held  their  own ;  at 
Antioch  Ignatius  presided  over  a  thriving  church. 
Asia  Minor  had  welcomed  apostle  and  evangelist 
at  one  centre  of  population  after  another  along  its 
great  trade  routes,  and  Ephesus  and  Smyrna  were 
the  seats  of  active  propaganda.  The  Pauline 
churches  in  Macedonia  still  cherished  their 
founder's  memory;  and  Corinth  was  in  frequent 

^  Acts  ii,  9-1 1. 


Christianity  as  Personal  Salvation     3 

communication  with  Rome.  There  Christianity 
had  made  its  way  into  high  quarters,  if  the  "athe- 
ism" of  which  Flavius  Clemens  was  accused  be 
rightly  identified  with  it.  A  cousin  of  the  Emperor 
Domitian,  he  served  as  consul  with  him  in  the 
year  95,  and  at  the  end  of  his  period  of  office 
suffered  death.  His  wife  Domitilla,  the  Emperor's 
niece,  was  banished  to  one  of  the  islands  west  of 
Italy '  where  exiles  wore  out  their  lives  in  squalor. 
To  Rome  came  the  preachers  of  all  faiths  and  the 
teachers  of  all  philosophies;  and  from  Rome, 
probably,  Christianity  was  carried  at  unknown 
dates  by  missionaries  whose  names  have  perished, 
to  Gaul  and  Spain.  Tradition  ascribed  the  intro- 
duction of  Christianity  in  Alexandria  to  Mark ;  the 
famous  Codex  Bezce  describes  Apollos  as  already 
instructed  there  in  the  way  of  the  Lord  before  he 
visited  Ephesus.^  Along  the  African  coast  Jews 
had  followed  the  Phoenician  traders,  but  the  origin 
of  the  church  at  Carthage  is  obscure.  Ignatius 
of  Antioch  on  his  way  to  execution  at  Rome — ■ 
perhaps  in  Pliny's  own  time — can  joyously  speak 
of  "the  bishops  who  have  been  appointed  to  the 
ends  (of  the  earth) "^;  and  Justin,  a  lad  at  Flavia 
Neapolis  (the  ancient  Shechem)  when  Ignatius 
suffered,  will  plead  afterwards  for  "those  of  every 

■  Pontia,  say  the  Christian  historians,  Eusebius  and  Jerome; 
the  Roman  historians  give  Pandeteria.  Eusebius  does  not  claim 
Flavius  Clemens  as  a  Christian,  though  modern  scholars  like 
Gwatkin  and  Harnack  aflSrm  it  as  certain. 

'  Acts  xviii,  25.     D.  iv  ry  iraTpidi;  It.  Gig.  in  patria  sua. 

3  Ephes.  iii,  2. 


4  Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

race  who  are  unjustly  hated  and  abused, "  and  will 
tell  the  Jew  Trypho  that  there  is  not  a  single 
people,  barbarian  or  Greek,  even  to  the  nomad 
Scythians  or  the  pastoral  herdsmen,  among  whom 
prayers  are  not  offered  through  the  name  of  the 
crucified  Jesus. '  Through  that  name  also  did  they 
cultivate  piety  and  righteousness,  faith,  hope,  and 
the  love  of  man ;  through  that  name  did  the  martyr 
endure  the  headsman's  axe,  the  cross,  the  wild 
beast,  chains,  and  fire ;  persecution  generated  beHef , 
and  the  worshippers  of  God  were  multiplied.  =* 

A  rehgion  so  widespread  had  naturally  begun  to 
produce  its  own  hterature.  From  the  synagogue 
it  had  inherited  a  precious  group  of  sacred  books, 
the  fountains  of  ancient  wisdom,  and  the  guarantee 
through  prophecy  and  psalm  of  the  claims  of 
Christ.  But  beside  the  authority  of  the  Jewish 
Scriptures  the  Church  of  the  early  decades  of  the 
second  century  was  beginning  to  set  the  "Word 
of  the  Lord."  As  Papias  tells  us,  the  tradition 
that  might  be  gathered  from  living  hps  was  still 
treasured  as  more  valuable  than  any  book.  No 
Gospel  yet  is  cited  under  any  name,  though  our 
first  three  were  certainly  approaching  if  they 
had  not  definitely  reached  their  present  form  in 
Pliny's  day.  The  Fourth  Gospel  had  hardly  yet 
emerged  out  of  the  limited  circle  in  which  it  first 
appeared.     The  churches  founded  by  the  Apostle 

'  I  ApoL,  i;  Dial,  cxvii,  cp.  ex,  "we  who  have  believed  in  Jesus 
over  all  the  world." 
'  Dial.  ex. 


Christianity  as  Personal  Salvation     5 

Paul  had  doubtless  preserved  the  letters  addressed 
to  them,  and  neighbouring  communities  would 
exchange  their  possessions.  When  Clement  writes 
in  the  name  of  the  Roman  church  to  Corinth,  he 
bids  the  disputants  take  up  the  letter  of  the 
blessed  Paul  the  Apostle';  what  had  been  his 
advice  at  the  beginning  of  his  preaching?  When 
the  Philippians  wrote  to  Polycarp  for  copies  of  the 
letters  of  Ignatius,*  they  doubtless  had  already  a 
collection  of  those  of  Paul.  Behind  Clement 
stands  the  author  of  the  so-called  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews,  a  sermon  without  a  name  transformed 
by  some  additions  into  a  letter  without  an  address. 
A  similar  homily  is  probably  to  be  found  in  the 
Epistle  of  James,  fitted  with  a  revered  name  like 
those  of  Peter.  There  are  other  documents  belong- 
ing (within  wide  limits)  to  this  age,  such  as  the 
Teaching  of  the  Twelve  Apostles,  the  Epistle  of 
Barnabas,  the  letters  of  Ignatius.  They  all  gather 
more  or  less  definitely  round  the  person  of  the 
Founder.  The  initiates  into  the  Mystery-religions 
might  believe  themselves  rooted  and  grounded  in 
trust  begotten  of  incommunicable  personal  experi- 
ences; the  followers  of  Christ  could  produce  the 
title-deeds  of  a  historic  faith. 

Among  the  works  which  had  been  written  not 
long  before  Trajan  sent  Pliny  to  Bithynia,  two 
stand  out  in  remarkable  elevation  above  all  the 

'  I  Clem.,  xlvii;  usually  dated  about  96  a.d.,  though  possibly  a 
little  later. 

•Polycarp,  Ep.  Phil.,  xiii. 


6  Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

rest.  The  Church  of  the  second  century  ascribed 
them  to  the  same  author,  the  Book  of  Revelation 
and  the  Gospel  according  to  John.  Each  has 
exerted  a  profound  and  far-reaching  influence.  The 
Apocalypse  stimulated  the  imagination  of  Christen- 
dom, the  Gospel  educated  its  thought.  From  the 
seer  of  Patmos  came  the  impulses  which  Dante 
wrought  into  immortal  verse,  and  Bunyan  into  an 
allegory  which  still  speaks  to  the  conscience  and 
the  heart;  in  the  philosophy  of  the  Logos  the 
Evangelist  provided  the  Church  with  a  metaphysi- 
cal foundation  for  the  interpretation  of  the  person 
of  Christ.  Strange  indeed  is  it  that  tradition 
should  have  identified  them,  and  that  the  modern 
critic  relying  on  scattered  fragments  of  testimony 
should  uphold  the  identification  in  spite  of  funda- 
mental differences  of  conception  and  aim.  How 
shall  the  God  who  is  light,  who  is  love,  who  is 
spirit,  be  represented  in  the  same  mind  as  a  Sover- 
eign whose  person  can  be  compared  to  flashing 
jewels, '  who  sits  enthroned  in  a  court  of  four  and 
twenty  elders,  with  seven  burning  torches  in  front 
of  him  and  a  glassy  sea  beneath  ?  The  mysterious 
relationship  of  the  Father  and  the  Son  who  can 
each  reside  in  the  other  is  shattered  when  the  Son 
is  depicted  with  eyes  of  flame  and  feet  like  bur- 
nished brass,  with  snow-white  hair  and  a  two-edged 
sword  issuing  from  his  mouth.  Instead  of  an 
apocalyptic  conflict  in  the  skies  the  opposition  of 

'Rev.  iv,  3.     The  jasper  (taspis)  is  opaque;  the  Greek  word 
should  probably  be  equated  with  the  opal  or  diamond. 


Christianity  as  Personal  Salvation     7 

the  Evil  Power  is  vanquished  when  the  Prince  of 
this  worid  is  cast  out,  and  his  condemnation  is 
effected  at  the  moment  when  he  is  confident  of 
triumph.  The  cross  on  which  he  hangs  the  Son  of 
God  to  die  is  the  scene  of  the  completion  of  the 
work  which  has  been  given  him  to  do;  and  in  the 
very  hour  of  seeming  defeat  the  Messiah  can 
announce  that  the  victory  over  the  worid  is  won. 
The  future  then  needs  no  war  of  angels,  no  Satan 
flung  from  heaven  to  earth,  to  wreak  his  vengeance 
for  a  short  time,  till  he  is  chained  in  the  abyss. 
The  Son  who  is  sent  not  to  judge  the  world  but  to 
save  it,  never  dons  the  blood-sprinkled  robe  or 
tramples  the  wine-press  of  the  fury  of  God's  wrath. 
Instead  of  the  rage  which  flames  out  against  Rome, 
the  imperial  city  with  her  lusts  and  her  cruelties 
as  she  drenched  herself  in  the  blood  of  prophets 
and  saints,  the  Evangelist  contemplates  a  world 
brought  finally  to  harmony  and  peace,  believing  and 
knowing  the  purpose  and  meaning  of  the  mission  of 
the  Son, '  for  faith  and  knowledge  of  the  only  true 
God  and  Jesus  Christ  whom  he  has  sent  are  not 
merely  the  conditions  but  the  actual  reality  of 
"eternal  life."' 

The  two  books  belong  in  fact  to  two  entirely 
different  modes  of  religious  thought.  The  Apoca- 
lypse describes  itself  as  a  Christian  prophecy. 
Its  language  is  steeped  in  the  speech  of  the  ancient 
seers  of  Israel.  Their  religion  was  worked  out  in 
the  history  of  a  particular  people.    It  is  pervaded 

»  John  xvii,  21.  '  John  x\'ii,  3. 


8  Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

by  the  element  of  divine  purpose ;  it  realizes  a  far- 
reaching  intention;  it  fulfils  an  age-long  plan;  it 
advances  steadily  towards  a  goal.  Hence  it  is 
essentially  moral;  its  crises  are  determined  by 
Israel's  character.  The  conflict  of  good  and  evil  is 
worked  out  in  various  forms,  but  the  vicissitudes 
of  discipline  have  all  one  aim;  they  lead  to  the 
ultimate  victory  of  good.  That  is  the  fundamental 
postulate  of  all  ethical  religion.  The  will  of  the 
righteous  God  must  be  finally  achieved.  And 
when  the  nation,  at  last  faithful,  is  still  oppressed, 
a  divine  deliverance  must  set  it  free.  The  heavenly 
forces  of  justice  must  enter  the  visible  scene,  must 
overthrow  the  earthly  tyranny,  and  reshape  both 
the  world  and  its  occupants  into  a  veritable 
"Realm  of  God."  Of  this  great  hope  Christianity 
was  the  heir,  and  in  the  Book  of  Revelation  it 
received  impassioned  expression.  The  great 
change  is  near;  a  note  of  urgency  and  suspense 
sounds  through  warning  and  vision  from  end  to 
end.  Watchfulness  is  the  believers'  duty;  in  an 
unexpected  moment,  like  a  thief  in  the  night,  the 
Messiah  will  arrive;  "the  time  is  at  hand,"  "I 
come  quickly."^ 

From  this  attitude  of  breathless  expectation 
the  disciple  passes  in  the  Fourth  Gospel  into  a 
sanctuary  of  peace.  He  is  bidden  at  the  outset  to 
contemplate  the  eternity  of  the  divine  Thought, 
the  timeless  fellowship  of  the  Father  and  the  Son. 
The  philosophy  from  which  the  conception  of  the 

'  Rev.  iii,  3 ;  xxii,  10, 20. 


Christianity  as  Personal  Salvation     9 

Logos  was  derived  occupied  itself  with  the  con- 
stants of  Being  that  lay  behind  the  ever-shifting 
scene  of  human  experience.  There  was  the  infinite 
Intelligence  of  which  the  visible  wodd  was  the 
manifestation.  The  order  of  Nature  was  the 
product  of  a  beneficent  Mind.  But  to  the  Greek, 
history  presented  no  such  unity  as  Hebrew  pro- 
phecy discerned.  God  was  apprehended  rather  as 
an  immanent  principle  of  Reason  than  as  an  ever- 
active  Will.  He  did  not  guide  the  sequences  of 
national  destiny;  he  was  no  continuous  presence 
presiding  over  the  slow  development  of  a  purpose. 
That  sense  of  a  vast  Providence  watching  over  the 
progress  of  Roman  fortunes  from  the  adventures  of 
Mneas  to  the  imperial  sovereignty  of  Augustus, 
which  thrills  Virgil  with  wonder  and  awe,  had  no 
real  counterpart  in  Hellenism.  Still  less  could 
Greek  philosophy  conceive  itself,  like  prophetic 
Israel,  as  the  depositary  of  truths  to  be  made 
known  through  its  teaching  to  mankind  at  large. 
The  intellectual  interpretation  of  the  world  deals 
with  its  permanences;  the  dramatic  in  national 
story  with  its  successions.  Time  is  essential  to  the 
steps  of  change;  but  thought  comprehends  all 
without  moving.  The  contents  and  applications 
of  a  single  law  are  viewed  simultaneously,  and 
reality  belongs  alone  to  that  which  is.  This  is  the 
order  of  ideas  which  lies  behind  the  Fourth  Gospel. 
It  is  founded  on  the  contrast  between  "earthly" 
and  "heavenly"  things,  and  it  presents  the  Son  of 
God  as  working  indeed  within  the  sphere  of  sense, 


10         Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

but  withal  as  preserving  his  eternal  identity  behind 
the  generations  of  humanity,  "Before  Abraham 
came/  I  AM."  In  such  a  world,  where  Hfe  and 
light  and  truth  and  love  dwell  in  everlasting  habita- 
tions, the  convulsions  of  apocalyptic  expectation 
have  no  place.  The  conventional  Martha  looks 
forward  to  a  resurrection  at  the  last  day.  She  is  at 
once  corrected:  "I  am  the  resurrection  and  the 
life,"  and  immortahty  is  the  blessed  issue  of  faith. ^ 
The  great  assize,  therefore,  is  never  summoned. 
No  thrones  are  set,  no  trumpet  sounds,  no  books 
are  opened.  Judgment  is  not  an  event,  it  is  a 
continuous  process;  the  Lord  does  not  descend 
from  the  sky,  nor  are  the  hving  caught  up  to  meet 
him  in  the  air^;  the  divine  fellowship  is  realized  in 
no  outward  form;  it  is  transported  into  the  realm 
of  spirit ;  "  If  a  man  love  me,  he  will  keep  my  word ; 
and  my  Father  will  love  him,  and  we  will  come 
unto  him,  and  make  our  abode  with  him,"  "that 
they  may  all  be  one,  even  as  thou  Father  art  in  me 
and  I  in  thee,  that  they  also  may  be  in  us. "''  And 
thus  humanity  itself  shall  become  divine. 

Under  these  two  powerfully  contrasted  types  of 
future  expectation  was  Christianity  presented  to 
the  world  in  the  first  decade  of  the  second  century. 
Both  were  comprised  under  one  idea,  viz.,  salva- 
tion. The  word  has  only  to  be  named,  and  a  host 
of  problems  rise  at  once  into  view.  From  whom, 
from  what,  were  believers  supposed  to  be  saved? 

'  John  viii,  58;  or  was  horn.  '  John  xi,  24-26. 

3  I  Thess.  iv,  16-17.  ''  Jo^^  ^^v,  23;  xvii,  21. 


Christianity  as  Personal  Salvation    ii 

Who  was  the  agent  of  their  dehverance?  What 
were  the  means  by  which  their  rescue  was  accom- 
plished? Did  their  condition  then  remain  secure, 
and  how  could  it  be  restored  if  it  was  injured? 
What  was  the  ultimate  destiny  which  finally 
completed  the  whole  process  ?  To  unravel  all  these 
lines  of  thought,  to  exhibit  the  different  types  of 
religious  life  created  by  different  answers,  to  trace 
their  connections,  their  antagonisms,  their  mutual 
, influences  and  reactions,  till  the  main  lines  of 
Catholic  Christianity  had  shaped  themselves  in 
the  middle  of  the  third  century  at  Carthage  and 
Rome,  is  one  of  the  chief  objects  of  the  study  of 
early  Christian  history.  It  is  apt  to  be  thrown 
into  the  background  by  the  prominence  given  to 
the  interpretation  of  Christianity  as  a  system  of 
doctrine  ultimately  embodied  in  creeds,  or  a 
scheme  of  ecclesiastical  government  under  the 
control  of  a  Church.  Beliefs  and  organizations 
both  enter  into  it;  they  are  the  products  of  its 
energy,  the  modes  of  its  self-expression.  But 
Christianity  is  first  of  all  a  Hfe;  it  is  the  life,  here 
and  hereafter,  of  those  who  may  be  designated  in 
the  language  of  Jesus  "sons  of  God,"  or,  in  the 
imaginative  terminology  of  the  Apostle  Paul, 
"limbs  of  Christ."  "The  wages  of  sin  is  death, 
but  the  free  gift  of  God  is  eternal  life  in  Christ 
Jesus  our  Lord."^ 

'  Rom.  vi,  23.  The  social  applications  of  Christianity  to 
industrial  and  international  relations,  under  the  modern  interpre- 
tation of  "the  kingdom  of  God, "  were  of  course  not  then  in  view. 


12         Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

When  Christianity  was  carried  beyond  the 
limits  of  Palestine  and  planted  all  the  way  from 
Antioch  to  Rome,  and  was  confronted  with  the 
various  forms  of  Hellenic  religion,  it  found  the 
ideas  and  language  of  "salvation"  already  well 
established.  From  Homer  onwards  it  had  been 
the  function  of  the  gods  to  "save,"  to  protect  and 
deHver,  to  rescue  and  preserve.  The  worshipper 
prayed  for  "salvation"  from  peril  by  land  or  sea, 
for  aid  in  danger  in  flood  or  field,  for  health  in 
sickness,  for  victory  over  enemies,  for  escape 
from  evil  fate.  A  long  Hst  of  gods  may  be 
easily  compiled  who  bear  the  title  "Saviour" 
in  Egypt,  Syria,  Asia  Minor,  Greece.'  During 
the  first  century  of  our  era  the  term  gained 
special  significance  for  Christians  in  respect  of 
two  prominent  figures,  the  Roman  Emperor  and 
the  god  Asklepios. 

When  Demetrius  Poliorketes  liberated  Athens 
from  the  tyranny  of  Cassander  in  307  B.C.,  the 
grateful  citizens  awarded  to  him  and  his  father 
Antigonus  the  title  0eoi  SoTfjpsq,  "divine  Saviours." 
Altars  were  erected  to  them,  and  a  priest  was  ap- 
pointed for  their  worship.  With  hymns  and  dances, 
garlands  and  incense  and  libations,  the  people  went 
forth  to  meet  the  Deliverer.     ' '  All  hail ! ' '  they  sang : 

'  Such  above  all  were  Apollo,  Asklepios,  and  Zeus;  Dionysus, 
the  Dioscuri,  Helios,  Herakles,  Hermes,  Pan,  Poseidon,  Serapis- 
Osiris,  and  in  general  the  Qeol  Swr^pej  (even  Priapus  is  Swr^p  xiff/tow, 
Corp.  Inscr.  Grcec,  iii,  5961).  Goddesses  like  Aphrodite,  Artemis, 
Athena,  Hera,  Hygeia,  Isis,  Kor6,  Nike,  Themis,  Tych6,  could 
all  be  invoked  as  Swreipai. 


Christianity  as  Personal  Salvation    13 

"The  other  gods  dwell  far  away,  or  have  no  ears, 
Or  are  not,  or  pay  us  no  heed. 
But  thee  we  present  see. 
No  god  of  wood  or  stone,  but  godhead  true. 
Therefore  to  thee  we  pray."^ 

The  style  was  adopted  by  the  sovereigns  of 
Egypt  and  Syria,  perpetuating  the  ancient  idea 
of  the  monarch  as  the  impersonation  of  deity. 
.'  The  tyrant  Antiochus  who  endeavoured  to  compel 
his  Jewish  subjects  to  abandon  their  religion,  took 
the  name  Epiphanes  ("God  manifest").  A  cen- 
tury later  the  Athenians  once  more  designated 
Julius  Caesar  "divine  Saviour,"  and  at  Ephesus 
Ares  and  Aphrodite  were  assigned  to  him  as 
parents,  for  was  he  not  "God  manifest,  and  the 
common  Saviour  of  human  life"?  In  the  midst 
of  the  deities  of  Egypt  on  the  island  of  Philae 
Augustus  was  honoured  as  "great  Saviour  Zeus"; 
Olympia  was  proud  to  call  him  "Saviour  of  the 
Greeks  and  of  the  whole  world." ^  The  imperial 
birthday  (September  23d)  was  adopted  as  a  general 
holiday  in  Asia  Minor,  and  a  group  of  inscriptions 
(discovered  by  a  German  archaeological  expedition) 
in  the  cities  of  Priene,  Halicarnassus,  Apamea,  and 
Eumeneia,  welcomes  it  as  the  inauguration  of  a 
new  era  hke  the  beginning  of  all  things.  He  is  the 
end  and  limit  of  sorrow  that  ever  man  was  born; 
hehas  been  filled  with  virtue  by  Providence  (zpovota) 
for  the  good  service  of  mankind;  he  has  been  sent 

'  Frazer,  Early  History  of  the  Kingship  (1905),  p.  138. 

»  Wendland,  Zeitschr.fiir  N.  T.  Wissenschaft,  1904,  p.  335  ff. 


14        Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

as  a  Saviour  to  put  an  end  to  war  and  set  all  things 
in  order;  earth  and  sea  are  at  peace;  he  is  the 
Saviour  of  the  whole  human  race;  is  it  surprising, 
therefore,  that  the  birthday  of  the  God  should  be 
hailed  as  "the  beginning  of  glad  tidings"  (suaY- 
Y  sX  c'wv ,"  gospels  " )  for  the  world  ? '  Language  of  this 
kind  prepared  the  way  for  analogous  honours  for 
the  Messiah.  The  heavenly  citizenship  (xoXtTsia) 
was  set  over  against  that  of  earth.  ^  Upon  the 
vast  variety  of  nations  which  Rome  gathered 
beneath  her  sway,  she  so  completely  stamped  her 
culture,  her  law,  her  trade,  her  government,  that 
the  genius  of  her  empire  could  be  summed  up  in 
one  word,  Romajiity.  ^  At  the  head  of  it  stood  the 
Csesar;  at  the  head  of  Humanity,  the  Christ. 
Augustus  and  Jesus  could  both  be  designated 
"Son  of  God"''  and  Theos  Soter. 

This  type  of  imperial  salvation  was  not  without 
its  place  in  Jewish  hope.  It  had  found  expression 
for  centuries  in  prophecy  and  psalm.  After  the 
overthrow  of  the  Syrian  tyranny  it  received  fresh 
utterance  in  the  "Testaments  of  the  Twelve 
Patriarchs";  when  Pompey  lay  dead  on  the  Egyp- 
tian shore  it  broke  forth  again  in  the  "Psalms  of 
Solomon."     The  glory  of  the  past  should  be  re- 

'  The  inscriptions  are  dated  by  Mommsen  in  1 1  or  9  B.C.  Mit- 
teilungen  des  Kaiserl.  Deutschen  Archaeol.  Instituts,  Athenische 
Abteilung  (1899),  xxiv,  275  ff. 

'  Philip,  iii,  20.  ^  Romanitas,  Tert,,  De  Pallio,  iv. 

4"Divi  Filius, "  QeoD  vi6s  (in  papyri  and  inscriptions).  Cp. 
Deissmann,  Bible  Studies  (1902),  pp.  131,  167,  and  Dalman, 
Words  of  Jesus  (1901),  p.  167. 


Christianity  as  Personal  Salvation    15 

stored  on  a  more  splendid  scale.  From  the  ends  of 
the  earth  the  scattered  Israelites  should  gather 
in  their  ancient  land.  The  tyranny  of  the  oppres- 
sor should  be  overthrown;  the  sovereignty  of 
David  should  be  re-established,  or  Levi  should  be 
endowed  with  a  perpetual  priesthood  till  God 
himself  should  come  and  dwell  in  the  holy  city. 
The  ungodly  nations  should  be  destroyed,  or  (with 
'a  larger  charity)  should  be  converted;  the  divine 
salvation  should  subdue  all  rivalries  and  the  whole 
earth  should  become  one  people  with  one  speech. 
Out  of  such  visions  rose  the  glowing  expecta- 
tions of  the  early  followers  of  Jesus,  enshrined 
in  the  hymns  which  celebrated  the  joy  of  the 
Maiden  Mother  and  the  long  childless  Zacharias. 
Had  not  God  "put  down  princes  from  their 
thrones"  and  "raised  up  a  horn  of  salvation  in 
the  house  of  his  servant  David" — salvation  from 
their  enemies  and  from  the  hand  of  all  that  hated 
them?  Deliverance  from  the  oppressor  had  at  last 
arrived.  It  was  natural  for  the  disciples,  gathered 
around  the  risen  Christ,  to  enquire,  "Lord,  dost 
thou  at  this  time  restore  the  kingdom  to  Israel?"* 
These  dreams  of  empire  might  be  national  in 
form,  but  they  were  inspired  by  a  deep  ethical  and 
religious  demand.  The  sovereignty  of  a  righteous 
God  required  a  holy  service  from  his  subjects. 
Under  the  priesthood  of  Levi  sin  should  come  to  an 
end,  and  the  lawless  should  cease  to  do  evil.  ^    The 

^  Acts  i,  6. 

'  Testaments  of theX  II  Patriarchs, tr.  Charles  (i908),Levi,xviii,9. 


1 6         Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

enmities  of  race  must  be  subdued;  "the  spirit  of 
hatred  worketh  together  with  Satan  unto  men's 
death ;  but  the  spirit  of  love  worketh  together  with 
the  law  of  God  unto  men's  salvation."'  The  Son 
of  David  should  purge  Jerusalem  and  make  it  holy, 
and  tend  the  Lord's  flock  with  faith  and  righteous- 
ness.^ Such  deliverance  really  implied  a  change  of 
heart.  Did  they  desire  the  salvation  which  re- 
sulted when  darkness  was  dispelled,  the  eyes  were 
enlightened,  and  knowledge  had  been  imparted 
to  the  soul?  Its  first  condition  was  "true  repent- 
ance after  a  godly  sort."^  The  development  of  an 
advanced  doctrine  of  immortality  gave  added 
intensity  to  such  a  summons.  New  influences 
played  on  Israel,  and  begot  new  thoughts.  The 
range  of  vision  expanded  from  earth  to  heaven. 
The  succession  of  generations  was  changed  into  a 
multitude  of  blessed  spirits.  The  great  drama  of 
humanity  culminated  in  scenes  of  resurrection  and 
judgment,  the  passage  of  an  age  of  evil  and  dissolu- 
tion into  a  new  world  of  incorruption  and  joy,  while 
the  guilty  were  dismissed  to  their  merited  doom  of 
pain.  In  this  transcendental  sphere  salvation 
acquired  a  new  meaning.  When  Enoch  had  been 
translated  into  the  heaven  of  heavens,  and  amid 
the  myriads  of  angels  beheld  the  Head  of  Days 
with  the  Son  of  Man  seated  at  his  side,  his  angel 
guide  disclosed  the  secret  of  eternity : 

'  Testaments,  Gad,  iv,  7. 

^  Psalms  of  Solomon,  xvii,  33,  45. 

^  Testaments,  Gad,  v,  7. 


Christianity  as  Personal  Salvation    17 

He  proclaims  unto  thee  peace  in  the  name  of  the 
world  to  come; 

For  from  hence  has  proceeded  peace  since  the  crea- 
tion of  the  world, 

And  so  shall  it  be  unto  thee  for  ever  and  for  ever  and 
for  ever. 

And  all  shall  walk  in  his  ways  since  righteousness 

/  never  forsaketh  him; 

With  him  will  be  their  dwelling-places  and  with  him 
their  heritage, 

And  they  shall  not  be  separated  from  him  for  ever 
and  ever  and  ever.  ^ 

In  this  faith  Joseph  might  well  be  bidden  to  name 
the  wonder-Child  "Jesus,  for  it  is  he  that  shall 
save  his  people  from  their  sins."^ 

But  what,  after  all,  was  the  cause  of  sins?  It 
was  a  fruitful  subject  of  speculation,  and  in  the 
century  preceding  the  birth  of  Christianity 
imagination  fixed  upon  evil  spirits,  the  hideous 
progeny  of  the  defiling  unions  of  the  Sons  of 
God  or  "Watchers"  with  the  daughters  of  men. ^ 
Had  not  Azazel  and  Semjaza  revealed  to  them 
all  kinds  of  sins?  And  did  not  the  demons 
which  issued  from  them  perpetually  cause 
trouble  and  work  destruction,  only  to  be  arrested 
at  the  consummation   of  the  age  by  the  great 

'  I  Enoch,  Ixxi,  9-16,  tr.  Charles  (1912). 

^  Matt,  i,  21.  "Jesus"  is  the  Greek  form  of  the  Hebrew 
"Joshua"  (later  Jeshua),  meaning  (as  usually  interpreted) 
"Yah well  is  salvation." 

3  Gen.  vi,  1-5. 


1 8         Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

Judgment  ? '  The  corruption  of  their  lawlessness  ex- 
tended even  to  cattle,  beasts  and  birds,  and  every- 
thing that  walks  upon  the  earth.  All  crimes  of 
violence  were  their  work,  ^  though  only  a  tenth  of 
them  were  left  after  the  Flood.  ^  The  whole  world 
was  in  fact  full  of  such  powers,  some  good  and  some 
bad.  There  were  spirits  of  fire  and  wind,  of  clouds 
and  darkness,  of  snow,  hail,  and  frost,  even  of  cold 
and  heat  and  the  four  seasons. "  These  wrought  their 
daily  work  in  faithfulness;  but  at  the  end  the 
spirits  of  cloud  and  mist  and  dew  and  rain  would 
be  summoned  to  testify  against  the  wicked,  for 
they  would  be  mindful  of  their  sins.  ^  Man  himself 
was  tenanted  by  similar  agencies.  Spirits  of  life,  of 
the  senses  and  of  sleep,  presided  over  his  bodily  func- 
tions. ^  Under  the  leadership  of  BeHar  ^  the  human 
person  might  be  infested  with  seven  "spirits  of  de- 
ceit," fornication,  insatiableness,  fighting,  obse- 
quiousness, pride,  lying,  injustice^;  there  were  spirits 
of  envy  and  hatred,  of  jealousy  and  vainglory, '  and 
four  potent  demons  lurked  in  wine,  lust,  hot  desire, 
profligacy,  and  filthy  lucre.  '•'  Here  was  an  active 
machinery  of  causation  for  all  evil;  and  in  the 
paralleHsm  which  was  soon  estabUshed  between 

1 1  Enoch,  ix,  6-8;  xv,  9-xvi,  i.     For  the  "consummation  of 
the  age"  cp.  Matt,  xiii,  39,  49. 

^  Jubiles,  V,  1-2;  vii,  27.  ^  Ibid.,  x,  I.  "  Ibid.,  ii,  2. 

s  I  Enoch,  c,  II.  *  Testaments,  Reuben,  ii,  3-iii,  i. 

V  Ibid.,  Issachar,  vii,  7;  Dan,  i,  7;  Benj.,  iii,  3. 

'  Ibid.,  Reuben,  iii,  3-6. 

9  Ibid.,  Simeon,  iii,  i ;  Gad,  i,  9;  iii,  i ;  Simeon,  ii,  7;  Dan,  i,  6. 

"  Ibid.,  Judah,  xvi,  i. 


Christianity  as  Personal  Salvation    19 

maladies  of  the  body  and  of  the  soul,  a  close  con- 
nection was  recognized  between  disease  and  sin. ' 

When  Jesus  instructed  his  disciples  to  pray, 
"Deliver  us  from  the  evil"  (azb  xoQ  xovrjpoj),  how 
are  his  words  to  be  interpreted?  Is  the  phrase 
simply  a  generalization  of  the  various  forms  of 
"illth"?-  Rabbi  Judah,  we  are  told,  was  wont  to 
pray  (a  hundred  years  later) — "Let  it  be  thy  good 
pleasure  to  deliver  us  from  an  evil  man,  from  an 
evil  chance,  from  an  evil  affection,  from  an  evil 
companion,  from  Satan  the  destroyer,  from  a  hard 
judgment,  from  a  hard  adversary." ^  Or  does 
Jesus  point  to  a  Tempter,  the  active  leader  of 
seduction  from  the  narrow  way?  Interpreters 
have  been  divided  from  the  third  century  to  the 
present  day,  and  the  precise  application  may  be 
left  undecided.  There  is  enough  evidence  else- 
where that  the  rule  of  God  was  opposed  by  the  rule 
of  the  Adversary,  whose  demon  agents  were  the 
mischief-working  causes  of  sickness  and  calamity. 
Salvation,  therefore,  had  to  begin  from  the  physi- 
cal side.  When  Jesus  straightens  the  bent  form 
of  the  woman  in  the  synagogue,  he  declares  that 

'  This  lies  at  the  foundation  of  the  story  of  the  cure  of  the 
paralytic  in  Mark  ii,  1-12. 

'  Ruskin's  counterpart  to  welfare  or  "wealth."  The  neuter 
gender  is  supported  by  the  variant  awb  ttjs  ■iro{v]i)p[las\  in  an 
amulet  containing  the  Lord's  prayer  discovered  by  Wilcken  at 
Heracleopolis  Magna  in  1899,  reproduced  by  Milligan,  Selections 
from  the  Creek  Papyri  (1910),  p.  134. 

3  Berakhoth,  16  b,  cp.  Taylor,  Sayings  of  the  Jewish  Fathers 
(1877),  p.  142. 


20        Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

she  had  been  for  eighteen  years  in  Satan's  grip; 
and  the  cure  is  a  triumphant  instance  of  the 
authority  vested  in  the  preacher  of  the  approach 
of  God's  kingdom. '  To  the  bhnd  man  whose  sight 
he  restores  at  Jericho  and  to  the  sinful  woman  who 
had  washed  his  feet  with  her  tears,  he  uses  the 
same  words,  "Thy  faith  has  saved  thee, "^  as 
though  physical  and  moral  cure  were  but  corre- 
sponding rescues  from  the  same  hostile  power.  In 
one  of  the  fascinating  chapters  of  his  Expansion  of 
Christianity,^  Harnack  has  traced  the  significance 
of  the  Gospel  of  Healing.  Sicknesses  of  the  body 
and  of  the  soul — Jesus  carried  them  both  in  his 
immense  love  for  the  sufferers.  In  the  proverb  to 
which  classical  wisdom  supplies  so  many  parallels, 
"they  that  are  whole  have  no  need  of  a  doctor, 
but  they  that  are  sick,"  he  ranged  his  own  function 
with  the  art  of  medicine,  just  as  the  Buddha  had 
been  known  in  a  former  birth  as  the  "Great 
Physician."  In  this  character  he  was  brought  into 
immediate  connection  and  contrast  with  Asklepios 
whose  sanctuaries  were  established  all  round  the 
eastern  Mediterranean.  His  worship  had  been 
introduced  in  Rome  as  far  back  as  290  B.C.;  a 
temple  was  built  for  him  on  the  Insula  Tiburina. 
Coins  and  inscriptions  abundantly  attest  his  title 
"Saviour"  {Soter).  The  Centaur  Cheiron  had 
been  his  teacher,  and  his  skill  won  back  so  many 
to  life  that  Zeus  translated  him  to  the  skies  lest 

'  Luke,  xiii,  10-17.  '  Luke,  vii,  50;  xviii,  42. 

3  Book  II,  chap.  ii. 


Christianity  as  Personal  Salvation   21 

men  should  escape  death  altogether.  But  from 
his  seat  among  the  stars  he  showed  himself  the 
best  friend  of  man ' ;  he  healed  the  sick,  he  revealed 
himself  to  the  believer,  he  foretold  the  future.^ 
When  Celsus,  writing  in  the  second  century  a.d., 
impeached  the  worship  of  Jesus,  but  demanded 
belief  in  the  appearances  of  Asklepios,  Origen 
replied  a  hundred  years  later  with  an  appeal  to  the 
successful  cures  wrought  by  the  Christians,  who 
needed  no  demonic  aid,  but  simply  invoked  the 
names  of  the  God  of  the  universe  and  Jesus  with 
a  brief  summary  of  his  career.  ^  The  Stoic  and  the 
Neo-Pythagorean  both  proposed  to  treat  the 
spiritually  sick;  Porphyry  (in  the  third  century) 
defined  the  object  of  philosophy  as  the  "salvation 
of  the  soul,  " '» and  pleaded  that  its  teachings  should 
only  be  imparted  to  those  who  had  arranged  their 
plan  of  life  with  a  view  to  that  high  end.  The 
double  aspect  of  salvation  is  clearly  indicated  in 
the  pages  of  the  New  Testament.  "The  prayer  of 
faith,"says/ame5v,  15,  "shall  save  (cure)  the  sick  " ; 
and  * '  whoever  converts  a  sinner  from  the  error  of 
his  ways,  shall  save  a  soul  from  death"  (v,  20). s 

^  <j)i\av0p(i}Tr6TaTos,  cp.  Tit,,  iii,  4. 

*  Cp.  the  inscriptions  at  the  great  sanctuary  of  Epidaurus  in 
Frazer's  Pausanias,  Vol.  iii,  p.  249;  and  the  oracle's  phrase, 
"O  born  to  be  the  world's  great  joy, "  Book  II,  xxvi,  6. 

3  Origen,  Contr.  Cels.,  Ill,  xxiv.  Asklepios  was  also  designated 
"Saviour  of  the  World, "  ffuTrjp  tuv  6\Qv. 

*  Ad  Marcellam,  xx.xi;  Euseb.,  PrcEp.  Evang.,  IV,  vii,  i ;  viii,  i. 

s  On  the  parallel  between  bodily  and  spiritual  healing,  cp. 
Tert.,  De  Baptismo,  v. 


22         Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

But  there  was  another  aspect  of  the  healing 
of  disease  which  acquired  great  prominence  in 
connection  with  the  salvation  offered  by  the 
primitive  Church.  The  belief  had  spread  far  and 
wide  along  the  Mediterranean  that  many  forms 
of  human  infirmity  were  due  to  possession  by 
Demons.  The  ancient  magic  of  Babylonia  and 
Egypt  had  been  largely  concerned  with  the  spells 
and  exorcisms  needed  to  avert  their  hateful 
influence.^  Among  the  many  elements  which 
met  in  later  Judaism  this  had  taken  a  deep  hold, 
and  the  healing  ministry  of  Jesus  is  explained 
again  and  again  in  its  language.  The  true  home 
of  the  Demons  lay  in  the  "abyss" ;  they  had  their 
own  ruler,  the  prince  Beelzebub ;  they  were  a  part 
of  the  great  host  of  evil  ranged  under  the  banner 
of  the  Adversary,  the  Satan.  Above  them  stood 
yet  mightier  powers,  for  the  Gods  of  the  nations 
belonged  to  the  same  order.  Those  marvellous 
forms  of  strength  and  grace  in  which  Greek  art 
had  striven  to  express  the  glory  of  the  Immortals, 
were  only  the  abodes  of  Demons  of  higher  degree. 
To  take  part  in  banquets  in  their  temples,  to  eat 
food  which  had  been  offered  to  them,  was  to  enter 
their  sphere  of  influence,  to  be  associated  with 
them  in  fellowship;  their  power  lurked  in  the 
consecrated  meat,  and  was  full  of  danger  to  the 

'  Celsus  affirmed  that  the  Egyptians  divided  the  human  body 
into  thirty-six  parts,  each  with  a  special  Demon  which  must  be 
kept  from  mischief  by  appropriate  worship.  Origen,  Contra  Cels.^ 
VIII,  Iviii. 


Christianity  as  Personal  Salvation    23 

Christian.  "You  cannot  partake  of  the  Lord's 
table  and  of  the  table  of  Demons,"  writes  the 
Apostle  Paul  to  the  Corinthians';  and  two  cen- 
turies later  Origen  meets  the  arguments  of  Celsus 
with  the  same  pica.  ^ 

Philosophy  had  to  make  what  terms  it  could 
with  this  belief.  Hesiod  had  long  ago  recognized 
an  order  of  Demons  of  elevated  rank  between  the 
Heroes  and  the  Gods;  but  experience  suggested 
that  they  were  of  varied  character,  and  Plato  and 
other  teachers  had  admitted  that  there  were 
among  them  evil  as  well  as  good.  ^  The  pious  and 
gentle  Plutarch,  cherishing  the  rites  of  his  ancestral 
priesthood  in  his  native  city  of  Chaeronea,  feels 
some  incongruity  between  his  conception  of  Deity 
and  the  functions  of  the  altar.  For  God,  he  asserts, 
as  he  interprets  the  mysterious  letter  carved  over 
the  narrow  entrance  of  the  temple  at  Delphi, — 
God  is  pure  Being,  he  alone  absolutely  is,  immu- 
table, timeless,  eternal.-'  How  then  can  it  be 
supposed  that  he  is  present  at  sacrifices  or  con- 
cerned with  ceremonies  ?s  The  unchanging  One 
cannot  be  brought  into  the  scene  of  human  vicissi- 
tude: the  supervision  of  its  events  has  been  en- 
trusted to  his  officers,  the  Demons,  who  have 
prescribed  the  sacred  offerings,  and  whose  varying 
characters  are  reflected  in  their  strange  diversity; 
"for  there  is  a  difference  of  virtue  between  these 

»  I  Cor.  X,  21.  '  Contra  Cels.,  VIII,  xxiv. 

3  Plutarch,  De  Deject.  Orac,  xvii. 

*  De  E,  XX.  s  De  Defect.  Orac,  xiii. 


24         Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

Demons  as  much  as  between  men."  Here  was  the 
explanation  at  hand  of  oracles  and  divination,  of 
omens  and  prognostications;  here  the  source  of  the 
odious  fables  of  mA^thology,  and  the  still  more 
odious  representations  of  them  on  the  stage.  The 
philosopher,  no  less  than  the  Christian,  felt  himself 
environed  by  Demons ;  and  the  Neo-Platonist  Por- 
phyry, the  follower  of  Plotinus  in  the  third  century, 
described  their  activity  in  the  utmost  detail. 

Every  house  is  full  of  them,  and  on  this  account 
when  they  are  going  to  call  down  the  Gods,  they  purify 
the  house  first,  and  cast  these  Demons  out.  Our 
bodies  also  are  full  of  them,  for  they  especially  delight 
in  certain  kinds  of  food.  So  when  we  are  eating, 
they  approach  and  sit  close  to  our  body;  and  this  is 
the  reason  of  the  purifications,  not  chiefly  on  account 
of  the  Gods,  but  in  order  that  these  evil  Demons  may 
depart.  But  most  of  all  they  delight  in  blood  and  in 
impure  meats,  and  enjoy  these  by  entering  into  those 
who  use  them.^ 

Such  was  the  evil  in  which  the  Christian  saw  the 
whole  world  plunged.  The  Demons  dwelt  in  the 
temple,  the  theatre,  the  home.  They  flitted  round 
the  sacrifices  and  the  blood.  They  occupied  the 
statues  like  the  human  body.  They  lurked  in 
shady  springs,  in  brooks  and  ponds,  in  cisterns  and 
baths.  ^    They  passed  with  food  into  the  person, 

'  Euseb.,  PrcBp.  Evang.,  IV,  xxiii,  tr.  Gifford. 
'  Minuc.  Fel.,  Oc/.,  xxvii;  Tert.,  ApoL,  xxvi;  De  Bapiismo,v, 
Orig.,  Conir.  Cels.,  Ill,  xxxvii. 


Christianity  as  Personal  Salvation   25 

and  at  death  carried  away  the  soul  thus  brought 
within  their  keeping  into  whatever  place  they 
pleased.'  But  the  believer  was  not  without  help. 
He  had  been  delivered  out  of  the  power  of  Dark- 
ness, and  translated  into  the  kingdom  of  the  Son 
of  God's  love.''  There  was  a  protection  to  which 
he  could  always  appeal;  for  Jesus  Christ,  said 
Justin,  had  been  made  man  for  the  destruction  of 
the  Demons.  3  In  his  name,  therefore,  dwelt  an 
energy  for  their  overthrow.  To  utter  it  over  a 
sufferer,  and  recite  the  facts  of  his  life,  death,  and 
ascension,  was  sufficient  to  expel  the  malignant 
enemy.  Such  exorcisms,  it  would  seem,  might  be 
practised  by  all  Christians.''  The  whole  world, 
exclaims  Origen  triumphantly,  contains  evidence 
of  the  works  of  Jesus;  his  name  can  still  remove 
distractions  from  men's  minds,  and  drive  out 
Demons  and  take  away  diseases.  "By  prayer  and 
other  means  which  we  learn  from  Scripture,  we 
expel  them  from  the  souls  of  men,  and  even  some- 
times from  the  bodies  of  animals. ' '  ^  It  w^as  natural 
that  some  men  should  be  more  successful  than 
others.  To  them  was  given  a  special  "healer's 
grace." *^  Hence  in  due  time  arose  a  definite  order 
of  exorcists,  incorporated  in  the  minor  ranks  of  the 
clergy.    The  Church  of  Rome  in  the  middle  of 

'  Clem.  Homil.,  ix,  9.  »  Col.  i,  13. 

3  2  Apol.,  vi ;  this  was  the  significance  of  his  name  Jesus  as  Man 
and  Saviour.     Cp.,  Dial.,  xli. 

*•  Justin,  Dial.,  xxx,  Ixxvi,  Ixxxv;  Tert.,  Apol.,  xxiii. 
s  Contra  Cels.,  I,  Ixvii;  VII,  Ixvii. 
*  Minuc.  Fel.,  Oct.,  xxvii. 


26         Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

the  third  century  found  employment  for  a  large 
number. '  Above  the  Demons  rose  the  power  of  the 
Ruler  (or  Prince)  of  this  age,  the  "Black  One"  as 
Barnabas  familiarly  called  him.  ^  He  was  for  ever 
attempting  to  effect  an  entry  into  the  beHever,  and 
hurl  him  away  from  the  new  life,  thrusting  him 
out  of  the  kingdom  of  the  Lord.  ^  The  Christian's 
life,  therefore,  was  a  daily  warfare  with  the  Devil; 
at  every  turn  the  mind  of  man  had  to  meet  his 
onset.  4  But  the  messenger  of  God,  the  Power  sent 
through  Jesus  Christ,  was  ever  at  hand  for  rescue 
to  drag  them  out  of  the  fiery  trial,  and  guide  them 
into  his  eternal  kingdom. 

Over  against  this  danger  stood  another  graver 
still,  the  Wrath  of  God.  It  was  an  ancient  pro- 
phetic conception,  associated  with  the  awful  Day 
of  penal  doom  upon  the  guilty  Israel.  ^  It  had  in- 
spired the  piercing  question  of  the  Baptist,  "Ye 
viper's  brood,  who  warned  you  to  flee  from  the 
coming  Wrath? "^  The  Apostle  Paul  is  driven 
from  city  to  city  to  proclaim  a  message  of  rescue, 
and  preach  "Jesus  who  delivers  us  from  the  coming 
Wrath. '  '7  "  Saved  from  the  Wrath ' '  is  his  promise 
to  those  who  have  been  justified  by  Christ's  death; 
in  the  impending  judgment  they  shall  beacquitted.  * 
As  the  end  draws  near  the  seer  of  the  Apocalypse 

'  See  the  letter  of  Cornelius  (251-252)  in  Euseb.,  Hist.  EccL,  VI, 
xliii,  "fifty-two  exorcists,  readers,  and  door-keepers." 
'  Ignat.,  Eph.,  xvii,  i ;  Magn.,  i,  2;  Barn.,  Ep.,  iv,  9;  xx,  i. 
3  Barn.,  Ep.,  ii,  10;  iv,  13.  i  Cypr.,  De  Mortal.,  v. 

s  Cp.  Zeph.  i,  14-15.  «  Matt,  iii,  7;  Luke,  iii,  7. 

7  I  Thess.  i,  10.  «  2?ow.  v,  9;  cp.  i,  18;  ii,  5. 


Christianity  as  Personal  Salvation   27 

beholds  the  dreadful  wine-cup  of  God's  Wrath 
prepared  for  the  worshippers  of  the  Beast;  the 
wine-press  of  the  Wrath  is  trodden  till  the  blood 
mounts  to  the  horses'  bridles';  the  contents  of  the 
seven  deadly  bowls  of  the  Wrath  are  flung  on  earth 
and  sea,  on  sun  and  air;  till  at  last  the  leader  of  the 
armies  of  heaven  appears,  the  white-horsed  warrior 
"Faithful  and  True,"  himself  to  "tread  the  wine- 
press of  the  fierceness  of  the  Wrath  of  Almighty- 
God."^  No  early  Christian  teaching  could  disen- 
gage itself  from  this  dread  expectation.  The  echo 
of  it  is  heard  in  the  fourth  Gospel  where  the 
Wrath  of  God  abides  on  those  who  do  not  obey  the 
Son. 3  "These  are  the  last  times,  "  urges  Ignatius, 
"fear  the  coming  Wrath"  "or  love  the  present 
Grace,  one  of  the  two. ' '  ^  Shelter  from  ' '  the  coming 
judgments,"  warnings  to  prepare  for  the  "fiery 
trial,"  predictions  of  the  appearance  of  the 
"signs  of  the  truth,"  expectation  of  the  kingdom 
from  hour  to  hour,  reminders  that  the  Day  of 
judgment  is  already  approaching,  and  entreaties 
to  consider  it,  threats  of  its  fire  for  the  wicked, — 
sound  with  every  variety  of  note  from  deep  under- 
tones to  shrill  exhortations  through  the  literature 
of  the  first  half  of  the  second  century.  ^  The  writer 
of  2  Peter  has  to  encounter  the  doubters,  and 

'i?ei;.  xiv,  15,  cp.  Enoch,  c.  3,  "The  horses  will  walk  up  to 
the  breast  in  the  blood  of  sinners." 

'  Rev.  xix,  15.  3  John  iii,  36.  ^  Ephes.  xi,  i. 

s  For  instance,  i  Clem.,  ii,  7;  Didacht,  xvi;  2  Clem.,  xii,  i; 
w'l,  y,llcrxwii^.  Shepherd,  Vis.  Ill,  ix,  5;  Martyr.  Polycarp.,  xi; 
Justin,  I  Apol.,  Ixviii. 


28        Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

invent  apologies  for  the  delay;  until  at  length  the 
Church  begins  to  adjust  itself  to  permanent  occu- 
pation of  the  world,  and  TertuUian  can  actually 
attempt  to  stay  the  persecutor's  hand  by  pleading 
that  the  Christians  pray  for  the  Emperors  and  the 
postponement  of  the  final  consummation.  ^ 

To  this  mode  of  thought  belonged  certain 
concrete  hopes  which  gave  definite  shape  to  the 
expectation  of  salvation.  Strange  words  were 
incorporated  in  the  traditions  of  the  teaching  of 
Jesus,  promising  twelve  thrones  to  the  Twelve 
Apostles,  from  which  they  should  judge  the  Twelve 
Tribes  of  Israel.^  The  Apostle  Paul,  extending 
the  scope  of  the  judgment  to  the  angels,  reminds 
the  Corinthians  that  they  will  have  their  share  in 
conducting  it,  and  founds  on  this  expectation  an 
argument  against  carrying  their  suits  against  each 
other  into  secular  courts.^  Dim  hints  of  their 
"reign"  drop  from  his  pen,  and  sound  through 
later  language  in  his  spirit,''  till  the  Apocalypse 
presents  a  picture  of  the  resurrection  of  the  faith- 
ful who  reign  with  the  Messiah  for  a  thousand 
years.  5  Jewish  imagination  had  long  been  con- 
cerned with  speculations  about  the  duration  of  the 
world.  *^  The  end,  it  might  be  supposed,  must 
bear  some  kind  of  relation  to  the  beginning.    To 

'  Tert.,  Apol.  (197  a.d.)  xxx,  xxxii. 

*  Matt,  xix,  28;  Luke  xx,  30.  ^i  Cor.  vi,  1-3. 
4  I  Cor.  iv,  8:  Rom.  v,  1712  Tim.  ii,  12;  cp.  Ep.  Polycarp.,  v,  2. 
s  Rev.  XX,  4-6. 

*  The  calculations  in  Dan.  ix,  founded  on  the  seventy  weeks  of 
Jeremiah,  seem  to  have  started  these  exercises  of  imagination. 


Christianity  as  Personal  Salvation   29 

make  the  world  had  required  six  days,  and  on  the 
seventh  God  had  taken  his  rest.  So,  it  was 
suggested,  the  world  might  last  six  days,  each  of 
the  Psalmist's  length,  one  thousand  years,  and  the 
Sabbath,  reckoned  at  the  same  period,  was  set 
apart  for  the  kingdom  of  the  Christ. '  This  hope 
seized  the  imagination  of  whole  generations.  In 
six  days,  that  is  six  thousand  years,  Barnabas 
affirms,  everything  will  be  consummated;  the  Son 
will  bring  the  time  of  the  Lawless  One  to  nought ; 
the  wicked  will  be  judged;  the  sun,  moon,  and 
stars  will  all  be  changed ;  and  the  true  rest  on  the 
seventh  day  will  begin.  It  will  be  a  season  of 
general  renewal  and  of  holy  peace.  ^  Justin  at 
Rome  is  confident  that  there  will  be  a  resurrection 
of  believers,  and  fixes  on  Jerusalem,  rebuilt  and 
enlarged  with  every  prophetic  decoration,  as  the 
scene  of  the  millennial  reign.  Not  till  that  was 
completed  would  the  general  resurrection  set  in, 
and  the  last  judgment  arrive.  ^  Irenaeus  carries 
the  same  faith  to  Gaul.  Papias  of  Hierapohs,  who 
had  a  great  repute  as  a  collector  of  traditions  about 
apostles  and  elders  who  had  known  the  Lord, 
handed  on  a  prediction  of  the  marvellous  fertility 
of  the  coming  days  (gravely  extracted  by  Irenaeus 
from  his  fourth  book),  when  vines  should  have  ten 
thousand  branches,  each  branch  ten  thousand  twigs, 
each  twig  ten  thousand  shoots,  each  shoot   ten 

'  Cp.  Jubiles,  iv,  30,  and  the  Secrets  of  Enoch,  xxxiii,  i,  with 
Charles's  notes. 

^  Ep.  Barn.,  xv,  4-7.  ^  Dial.,  Ixxx,  Ixxxi. 


30         Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

thousand  clusters,  and  each  cluster  ten  thousand 
grapes,  each  one  of  which  should  yield  twenty -five 
metretes  of  wine. '  Such  would  be  the  abundance 
of  the  earth  when  the  kingdom  was  planted  in  Jeru- 
salem, argues  Irenseus,  rebuilt  after  the  pattern  of 
the  Jerusalem  above. ^  The  "New  Prophecy" 
which  marked  the  enthusiastic  movement  known 
as  Montanism^  in  Asia  Minor  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  second  century,  contemporary  with  Irenseus  at 
Lyons,  was  passionately  excited  by  this  prospect. 
It  spread  along  the  Mediterranean  and  captured 
TertuUian  at  Carthage.  Had  not  Ezekiel  foretold 
the  glorification  of  the  Holy  City,  and  the  Apostle 
John  beheld  it  ?  Nay,  had  it  not  actually  appeared 
quite  recently  during  an  expedition  to  the  East? 
For  heathen  witnesses  affirmed  that  morning  by 
morning  for  forty  days  a  city  was  seen  in  Judaea 
suspended  in  the  sky,  its  walls  fading  as  the  day 
wore  on.  "^  By  such  reports  was  the  faith  of  believ- 
ers nourished.  The  Apocalyptic  scheme  with  its 
Antichrist  and  its  millennial  kingdom  held  its  own 
for  a  century  or  two  among  the  Latin  writers  of  the 
West  whom  the  Alexandrian  culture  did  not  touch. 
The  combination  of  literary  criticism  and  spiritual 
theology  might  undermine  the  authority  of  the  Book 
of  Revelation  in  the  East.  Its  apostolic  origin  was 
never  doubted  under  the  influence  of  Rome. 

Such  hopes  confronted  a  world  where  almost 
every  variety   of  belief   or   disbelief  could   find 

'  Iren.,  Adv.  Hares.,  V,  xxxiii,  3.  '  Ihid.,  V,  xxxv,  2. 

3  See  Lect.  III.  ^  Tart.,  Adv.  Marcion.,  xxiv. 


Christianity  as  Personal  Salvation   31 

expression.  "Snatched  away  in  the  bloom  of 
early  years,"  ran  an  inscription  on  the  island  of 
Thasos,  "a  flower-girl's  body  herein  is  entombed. 
But  her  soul  is  at  home  in  the  councils  of  the  Im- 
mortals among  the  stars,  and  dwelleth  in  the  holy 
place  of  the  blessed." '  Hope  of  reward  below  with 
Queen  Persephone, — if  such  there  be, — freedom 
from  hurt  by  sickness,  by  summer's  heat  or  winter's 
cold,  among  the  flowers  on  the  Elysian  plains, 
aspirations  after  the  upper  realms  of  the  ether  and 
the  home  of  the  gods,  are  not  lacking  among  the 
sepulchral  records.  In  the  second  century  of  our 
era  the  wider  diffusion  of  philosophical  monotheism, 
the  spread  of  the  mystery-religions,  and  the  in- 
fluence of  higher  ethical  teaching,  all  contributed 
to  strengthen  the  longing  for  assurance  concerning 
the  great  secret.  The  mortal  form  might  be 
abandoned,  but  the  spirit  soared  to  another  world. 
Here  is  a  new  note  of  confidence.  "The  body  kin 
with  me  is  in  the  ground,  but  the  heavenly  soul 
has  come  to  a  home  that  does  not  fade.  My 
corruptible  form  lies  in  the  earth,  but  the  soul 
which  was  given  me  dwells  in  the  home  on  high. ' '  * 
"Wherefore  the  immortal  gods  gathered  thee  to 
themselves,  for  as  many  souls  as  have  lived  rever- 
ently and  well,  say  not  that  these  die,  but  call  them 
immortal."^     The   distinction  here  is  complete. 

'  Boeckh,  C.  7.  G.,  ii,  2161  b. 

'  Kaibel,  Epigr.  GrcBca,  No.  261;    Corcyra,  not    later  than 
second  century  a.d. 

3  Ibid.,  268;  Sicini  (in  the  Egean),  second  century. 


32        Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

Pictorial  representation  in  the  hands  of  the  great 
masters  could  not  indeed  avoid  investing  the  souls 
of  the  dead  with  memories  of  corporeal  form.  The 
guilty  before  the  judgment-seat  in  the  world  below 
bear  the  visible  scars  of  sin,  and  Plato's  flaming 
river  is  an  emblem  of  physical  torment.  The 
criminals  in  Virgil's  Tartarus  suffer  bodily  pain; 
the  heroes  of  ancient  days  in  the  fair  bowers  of 
Elysium  rejoice  in  song  and  dance  and  chariot 
race.  Plutarch  can  tell  (through  Thespesius  of 
SoH)'  of  lakes  of  boiUng  gold  and  cold  lead  and 
scaly  iron,  and  anvils  where  limbs  were  bruised 
and  broken  and  disjointed  in  preparation  for  other 
lives.  Christian  imagination  employed  similar 
figures.  In  the  Revelation  of  Peter,  long  popular 
in  the  Church,  Paradise  was  depicted  full  of  un- 
fading  flowers  and  incorruptible  fruits,  where  the 
blessed  were  clad  in  shining  raiment,  and  sang 
songs  of  praise.  Lakes  of  flaming  mire,  of  pitch 
and  blood,  held  the  condemned ;  women  were  hung 
by  their  hair,  men  by  their  tongues;  or  they  were 
hurled  from  a  great  cliff,  and  forced  to  climb  and 
to  be  hurled  again  incessantly,^  In  what  did  the 
Christian  expectation  differ  from  the  Greek? 
Apart  from  the  question  of  duration  the  new 
teaching  affirmed  with  the  utmost  emphasis  the 
future  resurrection  of  the  body. 

'  De  Sera  Num.  Vindicta,  xxii. 

*  See  the  fragment  discovered  by  the  French  Archasological 
Expedition  at  Akhmim  in  Upper  Egypt  (1886),  and  published  in 
1892. 


Christianity  as  Personal  Salvation   33 

This  was  one  of  the  main  themes  of  the  mission- 
ary, and  Scripture  and  philosophy  were  aUke 
enHsted  in  its  defence.  The  analogies  of  nature, 
the  successions  of  day  and  night,  the  sequences  of 
seed  and  fruit,  might  be  invoked  to  support  it; 
even  the  example  of  the  fabled  phoenix  might  be 
summoned  from  Egypt';  but  the  real  emphasis 
lay  on  the  example  of  Christ  and  the  assimilation 
of  the  believer  to  his  risen  glory.  Ignatius  pleads 
against  the  Gnostics  that  Jesus  truly  died  and  was 
truly  raised,  "as  in  the  same  manner  his  Father 
shall  raise  up  in  Christ  Jesus  us  who  believe  in  him, 
without  whom  we  have  no  true  Hfe."^  And  this 
took  i)lace  in  the  flesh.  Did  he  not  say  to  Peter 
and  his  companions,  "Take,  handle  me,  and  see 
that  I  am  not  a  disembodied  spirit "?3  Did  he 
not  eat  and  drink  with  them;  did  they  not  touch 
him  and  behevc?  Here  was  the  distinction  of  the 
Christian  message.  There  were,  indeed,  some  so- 
called  believers  (but  they  were  really  godless 
heretics,  says  Justin),  who  denied  the  resurrection 
of  the  dead,  declaring  that  souls  passed  straight 
to  heaven.  ^  But  if  so,  he  plaintively  asks,  what 
new  thing  did  the  Saviour  bring  beyond  what  they 
had  learned  from  Pythagoras  and  Plato  and  all 
their  band?^     The  bodies  of  all  men  that  have 

»  I  Clem.,  x.xiv-xxvi;  Tert.,  De  Resurrectione  Carnis,  xii-xiii. 
'  Ignat.,  Trail.,  ix. 

3  Ignac,  Smyrn.,  iii.     Recorded,  says  Jerome,  in  the  Gospel 
according  to  the  Hebrews. 

"  Justin,  Dial.,  Ixxx.  s  De  Resurrect.,  x. 

3 


34         Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

lived,  he  assures  the  Emperor  Antoninus,  the 
Senate,  and  the  whole  Roman  people,  shall  be 
raised;  the  righteous  for  immortality,  the  wicked 
for  everlasting  fire. ' 

The  grounds  of  this  expectation  were  various. 
Christ  became  flesh,  said  the  preacher,  to  bring  us 
the  summons  to  salvation,  and  the  inference  was 
that  "As  you  were  called  in  the  flesh,  so  you  shall 
also  come  in  the  flesh."''  It  was  for  this  end  that 
he  had  raised  the  dead,  to  show  what  the  resurrec- 
tion would  mean.  3  Man  had  been  made  in  the 
image  of  God,  in  his  whole  person;  and  it  was 
absurd,  therefore,  to  declare  that  the  flesh  was 
worthless. 4  "God  forbid  [cries  Tertullian,  with 
the  shrill  voice  of  rhetoric]  that  he  should  abandon 
to  everlasting  destruction  the  labour  of  his  own 
hands,  the  care  of  his  own  thoughts,  the  receptacle 
of  his  own  spirit,  the  queen  of  his  creation,  the  in- 
heritor of  his  own  liberality,  the  priestess  of  his 
religion,  the  champion  of  his  testimony,  the  sister 
of  his  Christ !s"  Salvation,  it  was  pleaded,  must 
include  the  whole  man,  not  merely  a  part:  the 
Father's  "hands,"  the  Son  and  Holy  Spirit,  had 
made  him  in  God's  likeness,  and  the  perfect  man 

^lApoLAii.  In  the  prayer  ascribed  to  Polycarp  ( Martyr. ,  xiv) , 
the  saint  gives  thanks  for  a  share  in  Christ's  cup,  "unto  the 
resurrection  to  everlasting  Hfe  both  of  soul  and  body  in  the  in- 
corruption  of  the  Holy  Spirit." 

=  2  Clem.,  ix,  4,  5.  ^  Justin,  De  Resurr.,  ix. 

■<  Ibid.,  vii.  Tertullian  emphasizes  the  argument  by  referring 
the  "image"  to  the  coming  Christ.    De  Resurr.  Carnis,  vi. 

5  De  Resurr.  Carnis,  ix. 


Christianity  as  Personal  Salvation   35 

was  more  than  soul  and  spirit,  for  these  were 
blended  with  the  fleshly  nature  moulded  after  the 
divine  image.  ^  Nay,  it  was  added,  the  body  has 
been  the  occasion  of  man's  sin,  it  is  a  partner  in 
his  guilt,  must  it  not  also  share  his  punishment? 
And  are  there  not  moral  elements  inseparably 
bound  up  with  it,  courage  and  fortitude,  temper- 
ance and  self-control?^  It  was  unfair,  argued 
Tertullian,  that  one  should  do  the  work,  and 
another  reap  the  reward.  And  so  Scripture  and 
Ethics  combined  to  strengthen  Faith:  "the  Resur- 
rection of  the  dead  is  the  Christian's  trust."  ^ 

The  scope  of  the  salvation  thus  interpreted 
might  be  conceived  from  different  points  of  view, 
the  purpose  of  God  in  creation,  the  significance  of 
the  mission  and  death  of  Jesus  Christ,  or  the  actual 
facts  of  daily  experience  as  Christianity  was 
accepted  by  some  and  rejected  by  others.  The 
Fourth  Evangelist  had  presented  the  Christ  as 

'  Iren.,  Adv.  Hcer.,  V,  vi,  i.  So  Justin  before  him,  De  Resurr., 
viii,  and  Tertullian  after,  De  Resurr.  Carnis,  xxxiv  and  Ivii,  "If 
God  raises  not  men  entire,  he  raises  not  the  dead." 

*  Athenag.,  De  Resurr.,  xviii,  xxi.  Cp.  the  argument  on  the  end 
of  man's  creation,  ibid.,  xiii,  xxv.  The  argument  for  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  body  founded  on  its  share  in  good  or  evil  deeds  was 
also  current  in  Judaism;  cp.  the  parable  of  the  blind  man  who 
carried  the  lame  man  to  rob  an  orchard  in  Midrash  on  Levit. 
iv,  I  (tr.  Wiinsche,  p.  28). 

3  Tert.,  De  Resurr.  Carnis,  i,  Ivi.  After  the  terrible  persecution 
at  Lyons,i77  a.d.,  the  bodies  of  the  martyrs  were  burned  and  their 
ashes  thrown  into  the  Rhone,  expressly  to  frustrate  the  hope  of 
resurrection  which  was  recognized  as  the  power  that  enabled  them 
to  face  death  with  joy.  See  the  well-known  Church  letter,  Euseb., 
Hist.  EccL,  V,  i,  62,  63. 


36        Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

"the  Saviour  of  the  world" ;  the  Apostles  had  been 
commissioned  to  go  and  teach  all  nations.  Hermas 
is  informed  by  the  Shepherd  that  "all  the  nations 
which  dwell  under  heaven,  when  they  heard  and 
believed,  were  called  after  the  name  of  the  Son  of 
God" ;  and  the  apostles  and  teachers  who  had  thus 
been  the  agents  of  their  conversion  had  continued 
their  work  after  death,  and  proclaimed  the  good 
news  to  those  who  had  fallen  asleep  before  them, 
and  given  them  the  seal  of  the  preaching.'  Had 
not  the  Redeemer  himself  preached  to  the  spirits 
in  prison  (i  Pet.  iii.,  19)?  In  the  "Gospel  accord- 
ing to  Peter"  three  wondrous  figures  issued  from 
the  tomb  on  the  night  in  which  the  Lord's  day  was 
drawing  on,  the  head  of  the  chief  reaching  beyond 
the  heavens,  and  a  cross  following  him.  The 
guards  heard  a  mysterious  voice  pealing  from  the 
sky,  "Thou  hast  preached  to  them  that  sleep, "  and 
the  cross  answered  "Yea."^  So  firmly  fixed  was 
this  belief,  so  strong  also  was  the  assurance  of  the 
prediction  of  all  fundamental  Christian  facts  in 
prophecy,  that  Justin  could  accuse  the  Jews  of 
having  erased  from  the  book  of  Jeremiah  the 
announcement  that  "the  holy  Lord  God  remem- 
bered his  dead  people  of  Israel  who  slept  in  their 
graves,  and  he  descended  to  them  to  preach  to 
them  his  own  salvation."  ^  This  pious  faith  was  to 
beget  the  late  narratives  of  the  saints  who  rose 

'  Hermas,  Simil,  IX,  xvii,  4;  xvi,  5.  ''  Ev.  Petri.,  9,  10. 

3  Justin,  Dial.,  Ixxii.     Irenaeus  refers  to  the  same  passage,  Adv. 
Hcer.,  V,  xxxi,  I,  and  attributes  it  to  Isaiah,  III,  xxiv. 


Christianity  as  Personal  Salvation   37 

and  appeared  in  Jerusalem  {Matt,  xxvii,  53),  and 
told  how  the  great  light  had  appeared  in  Hades. ' 

The  universality  of  the  Gospel  was,  however, 
exposed  to  severe  practical  limitation,  Tertullian 
might  indeed  boast  that  the  Christians,  though  but 
of  yesterday,  had  filled  city  and  island,  the  village 
and  the  market-place,  the  camp,  the  palace,  the 
Senate,  the  fonmi:  "We  have  left  you  nothing  but 
the  temples  of  your  gods."^  In  reality,  however, 
there  remained  the  vast  mass  of  the  unconverted. 
Out  of  these  the  believers  had  been  gathered  by  no 
merit  of  their  own.  They  could  only  explain  it  as 
the  choice  of  God.  The  call  had  come  to  them, 
and  they  could  not  resist;  they  were  mysteriously 
enrolled  in  the  number  of  the  elect.  The  Christian's 
duty  was  to  strive  untiringly  on  behalf  of  the  whole 
brotherhood  that  this  number  should  be  saved.  ^ 
The  blessing  of  forgiveness  was  bestowed  on  those 
who  had  been  chosen  by  God  through  Jesus  Christ ; 
the  believer's  prayer  was  that  the  Creator  of  the 
universe  would  preserve  unhurt  the  niimber  of  his 
elect " ;  and  his  obligation  was  to  practise  unceasing 
vigilance  in  this  high  vocation:  "Let  us  never 
rest  as  though  we  were  'called,'  and  slumber  in  our 
sins."  5  The  result  of  such  a  call  might  be  expressed 
as  a  new  birth,  effected  in  baptism,^  which  secured 

'  Cp.  the  liberation  of  the  souls  in  bonds  of  darkness,  Odes  of 
Solomon,  xlii. 

'Apol.  xxxvii.  3  I  Clem.,  ii,  4. 

"  I  Clem.,  1,  6-7  ;  lix,  2.  s  Ep.  Barn.,  iv,  13. 

*  Justin,  I  A  pel.,  Ixi,  Ixvi;  Dial.,  cxxxviii.    Cp.  Lect.  IV. 


385370 


38         Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

forgiveness  for  past  sins ;  or  in  the  figiire  of  renewal 
or  new  creation,  when  the  soul  was  remade  after 
another  pattern,  and  shaped  afresh  like  a  child.' 
It  was  accomplished  through  the  "angel  of  repent- 
ance, "  and  brought  life  to  those  who  had  no  hope.^ 
But  its  result  was  to  set  the  disciple  under  a  "new 
law,"  the  new  law,  namely,  of  Jesus  Christ.  ^  So 
completely  had  Christ  himself  impersonated  this 
ideal,  that  it  could  be  identified  with  "God's 
son""*;  Christ  is  "the  new  law,"  eternal  and  final, 
whom  Justin  proclaims  to  the  Jew  Trypho.  ^  , 

This  conception  presented  salvation  as  the  re- 
ward of  righteousness.  It  was  the  divine  recom- 
pense of  the  faithful  life.  Clement  might  indeed 
echo  the  language  of  the  Apostle  Paul,  and  declare 
that  the  "called"  were  not  justified  by  their  own 
wisdom  or  piety,  or  their  works  wrought  in  holiness 
of  heart,  but  by  faith.  ^  Yet  but  a  little  before  he 
had  iirged  the  Corinthians  to  remember  that  they 
were  the  "portion  of  a  Holy  One, "  and  must  do  the 
deeds  of  consecration,  and  be  justified  by  deeds  not 
words.  ^  This  emphasis  upon  the  Christian  charac- 
ter pervades  the  literature  of  the  first  half  of  the 
second  century  with  ardent  iteration.  The  present 
life  is  the  athlete's  training  that  he  may  win  the 
crown  in  that  which  is  to  come.^  "Confess  the 
Lord  in  your  works  [urges  the  same  preacher],  by 

'  Ep.  Barn.,  vi,  ii.       '  Hernias,  Shepherd,  Simil.,  IX,  xiv,  3. 
3  Ep.  Barn.,  ii,  6.  ^  Hermas,  Shepherd,  Simil.,  VIII,  iii,  2. 

5  Dial.,  xi,  xii,  xxiv,  xxxiv,  xliii.  ^  i  Clem.,  xxxii,  4. 

">  Ibid.,  xxxiii,  3.  *  2  Clem.,  xx,  2. 


Christianity  as  Personal  Salvation   39 

mutual  love,  by  self-control  and  pitifulness; 
prayer  from  a  good  conscience  will  rescue  from 
death,  but  fasting  is  yet  better,  and  almsgiving 
best  of  all.  Keep  the  flesh  pure,  and  the  seal  of 
baptism  undefiled,  that  you  may  obtain  eternal 
life." '  Barnabas  traces  the  "Way  of  Light,"  which 
demands  more  than  the  Gospel  in  requiring  who- 
ever walks  therein  to  love  his  neighbour  more  than 
his  own  life;  and  bids  him  seek  each  day  the 
society  of  the  saints,  striving  to  save  souls  by  the 
ministry  of  the  Word.^  The  "Way  of  Life" 
enjoined  in  the  "Teaching  of  the  Twelve  Apostles" 
enters  into  fuller  detail,  but  is  laid  out  on  the 
same  lines.  Here,  too,  the  disciple  is  instructed 
as  a  member  of  a  community;  and  the  ideal  of 
generosity  and  helpfulness  is  strenuously  enforced. 
Sometimes  an  echo  of  the  Stoic  morality  falls  on 
the  ear:  "Receive  the  accidents  that  befall  thee 
as  good,  knowing  that  nothing  happens  without 
God." ^  So  Epictetus  might  have  spoken,  when  he 
pleaded  that  to  have  God  as  our  Maker  and 
Father  and  Guardian  should  release  us  from 
sorrows  and  fears,  "i  And  as  he  bade  masters 
remember  that  their  slaves  were  kinsmen,  brethren 
by  nature,  and  offspring  of  Zeus,  ^  so  the  Christian 
"Teaching"  prohibits  bitterness  towards  the 
slave  who  hopes  in  the  same  God,  for  he  comes 
not  to  call  men  with  respect  of  persons.  ^    The  true 

'  2  Clem.,  iv,  I ;  xvi,  4;  viii,  6.  '  Ep.  Barn.,  xix,  5,  10. 

3  Teaching  of  the  Twelve  Apostles,  iii,  10.  ^  Arrian,  I,  ix. 

5  Ibid.,  I,  xiii.  '  Teaching,  iv,  10. 


40  Phases  of  Early  Christianity- 
athlete,  says  Epictetus,  strives  for  kingship,  for 
freedom,  for  security  from  perturbation. '  And 
the  goal  ?  Wait  for  God's  signal  to  quit  this  service, 
and  then  go  to  him.  ^  The  wise  man  must  at  all 
costs  preserve  his  equipoise.  Epictetus  is  the 
counsellor  of  the  blameless  life,  pitched  high  in 
independence,  but  he  does  not  propose  to  seek  and 
save  the  lost ;  and  he  inspires  no  martyrs  to  refuse 
to  bum  incense  to  the  imperial  name.  It  is  the  con- 
stancy of  the  Christian  in  the  face  of  death  which 
wins  the  philosopher  Justin  to  the  faith.  ^  "Do you 
not  see,"  writes  an  unknown  correspondent  to  an 
unknown  Diognetus,  "that  the  more  of  them  are 
punished,  the  more  others  multiply?"'' 

A  religion  of  this  strong  ethical  type  conceived 
future  blessedness  as  something  due  to  the  beUever's 
merit  in  accordance  with  God's  promise,  rather 
than  as  vouchsafed  freely  by  divine  grace.  One 
consequence  of  this  was  seen  in  the  stern  repudia- 
tion of  the  Stoic  doctrine  of  Fate,  and  the  vigorous 
assertion  of  human  liberty.  True,  Epictetus  had ' 
placed  the  Good  in  a  right  determination  of  the 
wills;  but  his  theory  of  the  dependence  of  the 
moral  life  on  correct  or  incorrect  notions  makes  it 

^  Arrian,  II,  xviii. 

'  Ibid.,  I,  ix;  cp.  Ill,  xiii.  "Whither?— to  nothing  terrible,  but 
to  the  place  from  which  you  came,  to  what  is  dear  and  kindred, 
to  the  elements.    What  there  was  in  you  of  fire  goes  to  fire, "  etc. 

3  2  ApoL,  xii. 

4  Ad  Diognet.,  vii,  8.  The  earliest  of  the  Apologists,  Aristides, 
gives  a  fine  account  of  the  Christian  behaviour. 

s  Arrian,  III,  iii. 


Christianity  as  Personal  Salvation   41 

probable  that  he  did  not  depart  from  the  f ataHsm  of 
his  school. '  But  Christianity — ' '  our  philosophy  " 
as  Melito  terms  it- —  in  the  hands  of  the  Apologists 
laid  great  stress  on  man's  power  of  choice,  and  con- 
sequent accountability.  What  was  the  meaning  of 
reason  within  him  and  of  law  without  but  to  make 
virtue  a  reality  and  vindicate  the  divine  awards  on 
guilt  ?^  Angels  and  men,  accordingly,  were  both 
created  free,  so  that  the  bad  man  might  be  justly 
punished  and  the  good  deservedly  praised. " 

A  second  issue  followed  in  the  heightened 
demand — already  rising  in  the  days  of  Paul — for 
ascetic  purity.  It  sprang  from  a  view  of  life 
already  old  when  Christianity  was  born.  The 
body  with  its  wants  and  passions  was  a  hindrance 
to  the  higher  activity  of  the  soul.  It  must  be 
tamed  and  conquered  that  reason  might  act  freely, 
and  the  vision  of  the  mind's  eye  be  clear.  The 
disciplines  of  philosophy  had  already  laid  stress 
upon  that  self-control  {encrateid)  which  in  Chris- 
tian preaching  was  specially  applied  to  chastity.  ^ 
The  Cynics  at  the  end  of  the  first  century,  accord- 
ing to  the  well-known  description  of  Epictetus,  had 
neither  home  nor  wife  nor  slave.  His  couch  was 
the  ground,  his  dress  only  one  poor  cloak,  his  food 

I  Zeller,  Eclectics  (1883),  p.  267. 
»  Euseb.,  Hist.  EccL,  IV,  xxvi,  7. 

3  Justin,  I  ApoL,  xxiii,  xliii;  2  ApoL,  vii;  Dial.,  cxli. 

4  Tatian,  Cohort.,  vii. 

s  Tryphc,  in  Justin's  Dialogue,  viii,  3,  recommends  him  to 
remain  in  the  philosophy  of  Plato  or  some  other  teacher,  cultivat- 
ing endurance,  encrateia,  and  moderation. 


42         Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

the  most  frugal ;  but  no  one  saw  him  with  a  sorrow- 
ful countenance.     He  must  endure  to  be  beaten 
like  an  ass,  and  must  love  those  who  beat  him  as 
if  he  were  the  father  and  the  brother  of  all. '    The 
ascetic  tendency  had  even  invaded  Judaism.    The 
Essenes   endeavoured   to   maintain   the   strictest 
ritual  purity;  Hving  in  community  they  eschewed 
marriage,  and  their  common  meals  were  of  the 
simplest.     In  Egypt  the  Therapeuts  reUnquished 
all  property,  ate  no  meat  and  drank  no  wine,  and 
the  relations  between  the  sexes  (for  there  were 
men   and  women  members  of  the  order)   were 
guarded  with  the  strictest  morality.    The  Apostle 
Paul  was  unmarried  (in  contrast  to  Peter  and  the 
brothers  of  the  Lord),  and  there  were  Christians  at 
Corinth  who  held  that  marriage  was  undesirable, 
while  the  Apostle  "recommended  the  ascetic  life  to 
those  who  could  endure  it,  whether  married  or 
unmarried."'     Most  remarkable  of  all  was  the 
arrangement  of   "spiritual  marriage"  by  which 
men  and  women  lived  together  in  rigid  continence, 
now  recognized  under  the  counsels  conveyed  in  i 
Cor.  vii,  25-38.    It  was  well  known  in  the  second 
and  third  centuries,  and  lingered  on  in  remote 
quarters  into  the  Middle  Ages.^    The  language  of 

'  Arrian,  III,  xxii. 

'  See  the  discussion  of  i  Cor.  vii,  by  Prof.  Lake,  The  Earlier 
Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  191 1,  p.  180  flf. 

3  To  the  references  cited  by  Lake,  p.  189,  may  be  added  an 
article  by  Prof.  Julicher  (Marburg),  "Die  Geistlichen  Ehen  in  der 
Alten  Kirche,"  in  the  Archiv.  fiir  Religionswissenschaft,  VII 
(1904),  pp.  373-386. 


Christianity  as  Personal  Salvation   43 

Jesus  had  repudiated  all  conceptions  of  physical 
union  in  the  resurrection;  and  it  has  even  been 
supposed  that  Paul,  who  bade  believers  realize 
that  they  were  already  risen  with  Christ  and  sat  in 
heavenly  places,  might  have  conceived  that  sex 
was  already  transcended  even  before  the  Parousia, 
and  there  was  neither  male  nor  female  in  Christ. 
Tradition  related  that  on  being  asked  when  the 
kingdom  would  come  the  Lord  replied,  "When  the 
two  shall  be  one,  and  the  outside  as  the  inside, 
and  the  male  with  the  female  neither  male  nor 
female."'  The  powerful  influence  of  the  ascetic 
impulse  is  reflected  in  the  vision  of  one  hundred 
and  forty-four  thousand  virgins  who  had  not 
defiled  themselves  with  women,  surrounding  the 
Lamb  upon  Mount  Zion,  Rev.  xiv,  1-5;  and 
the  hortatory  literature  of  the  age  following  the 
Apostles  is  full  of  urgent  appeals  for  manly  purity. 
"Guard  the  flesh  that  you  may  receive  the  Spirit" 
was  the  theme  of  many  a  sermon.^  Among  the 
wonderful  gifts  of  God  is  continence  in  hoHness; 
let  no  one  boast  of  his  self-control  forgetting  who 
has  bestowed  it  on  him.^  Continence  is  the 
daughter  of  Faith:  "whosoever  then  shall  follow 
her  becomes  blessed  in  his  life,  because  he  will 
abstain  from  all  evil  deeds,  believing  that  if  he 
refrains  from  every  evil  lust  he  will  inherit  eternal 

'  2  Clem.,  xii,  2.  A  similar  saying  is  reported  from  the  Gospel  of 
the  Egyptians  in  Clem.  Alex.,  Strom.  Ill,  xiii,  92;  cp.  Preuschen, 
Antilegomena  (1905),  p.  2. 

»  2  Clem.,  xiv,  3.  3  i  Clem.,  xxxv,  2;   xxxviii,  2;  Ixiv. 


44         Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

life."^  Salvsition  is  the  reward  of  encrateia.  It  is 
not  surprising  that  this  tendency  should  have  been 
widespread  among  those  who  looked  for  the  speedy 
end  of  the  world  and  sought  to  secure  themselves  in 
the  hope  of  future  bliss.  ^  The  strange  story  of  Paul 
and  Thekla,  which  is  believed  to  contain  elements 
dating  from  the  first  century,  turns  on  Thekla's  re- 
pudiation of  her  betrothed  under  the  influence  of  the 
Apostle,  and  the  trials  and  persecution  which  beset 
her.    To  Paul  is  ascribed  a  new  set  of  Beatitudes : 

Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart,  for  they  shall  see  God. 
Blessed  are  they  that  have  kept  the  flesh  chaste,  for 

they  shall  become  God's  temple. 
Blessed  are  they  that  control  themselves,  for  God 

shall  speak  with  them. 
Blessed  are  they  that  have  wives  as  not  having  them, 

for  they  shall  receive  God  for  their  portion. 
Blessed  are  the  bodies  of  virgins,  for  they  shall  be 

well  pleasing  to  God,  and  shall  not  lose  the  reward 

of  their  chastity.^ 

In  the  intimacies  of  Christian  brotherhood  the 
Logos  demanded  that  the  holy  kiss  should  be  given 
with  the  utmost  care.  The  entrance  of  any  defiling 
thought  involved  exclusion  from  eternal  life.  '^ 

'  Hermas,  Shepherd,  Vis.  Ill,  viii,  4. 

*  The  so-called  Encratites  were  not  a  sect,  they  only  worked 
out  in  stricter  personal  practice  tendencies  which  had  very  early 
affected  the  Christian  life. 

3  A  cts  of  Paul  and  Thekla,  v. 

"I  Athenag.,  Presb.  (177  a.d.),  xxxii.  From  what  source  the 
words  of  the  Logos  are  drawn  is  unknown. 


Christianity  as  Personal  Salvation   45 

The  supreme  sacrifice  was  that  of  life.  The 
martyr  passed  at  once  to  peace  and  feUcity. 
Stephen  had  entreated  the  Lord  Jesus  to  receive 
his  spirit.  The  Apostle  Paul  longs  to  depart  and 
be  with  Christ.'  From  the  rocks  of  Patmos  the 
seer  beholds  the  souls  of  those  who  had  been  slain 
for  their  testimony  waiting  beneath  the  altar  in 
the  fourth  heaven.  ^  The  time  of  rest  will  be  brief ; 
soon  will  they  be  gathered  with  the  vast  number 
who  are  coming  out  of  the  great  tribulation,  and 
join  in  the  song  of  praise  before  the  throne  of  God 
and  the  Lamb.^  Clement  can  count  a  great 
multitude  of  the  elect  who  were  taken  up  to  be 
with  Peter  and  Paul  in  the  Holy  Place.  -»  That  was 
the  way  of  Christ,  and  had  not  he  said,  "Those 
who  will  see  me,  and  attain  to  my  kingdom,  must 
lay  hold  of  me  through  pain  and  suffering"  ?s  The 
prospect  fills  Ignatius  with  vehement  joy.  On 
the  journey  from  Antioch  to  Rome  he  writes  to  the 
church  in  the  imperial  city  entreating  them  to  do 
nothing  to  hinder  his  impending  death.  ' '  Suffer  me 
to  be  eaten  by  the  beasts,  through  whom  I  can 
attain  unto  God."  He  is  God's  wheat,  ground  by 
their  teeth  that  he  may  be  found  pure  bread  of 
Christ.^  When  the  Lady  Church  summons  Her- 
mas  to  her  side,  she  places  him  upon  the  left;  the 
right  is  reserved  for  those  who  have  endured  stripes 

'  Phil,  i,  23 ;  cp.  2  Tim.  ii,  1 1.  '  Ra'.  vi,  9. 

3  Rev.  vii,  9-17;  cp.  Charles,  Studies  in  the  Apocalypse  (19 13), 

P-  139- 

1  I  Clem.,  v-vi.     s  Ep.  Barn.,  vii,  11.     *"  Ignat.,  Rom.,  iv,  I. 


46        Phases  of  Early  Christianity  - 

and  imprisonments,  crucifixions  and  wild  beasts,  for 
the  sake  of  the  Name.  ^  The  enthusiasm  of  the 
Christians  did  not  escape  the  barbed  wit  of  Lucian. 
He  made  fun  of  their  attentions  to  the  imprisoned 
Peregrinus:  "You  see,  these  misguided  creatures 
start  with  the  conviction  that  they  are  immortal  for 
all  time,  which  explains  the  contempt  of  death  and 
voluntary  self-devotion  which  are  so  common  among 
them."^  The  privilege  of  martyrdom  became  an 
object  of  eager  desire.  The  contagion  of  impulse 
drove  the  believers  of  a  whole  province  before  the 
judgment  seat  of  Arrius  Antoninus,  clamouring  for 
execution:  "You  wretched  fellows,"  he  retorted, 
"if  you  want  to  die,  you  have  precipices  and  hal- 
ters."^ Such  solicitation  drew  down  the  severe 
rebuke  of  Clement  of  Alexandria.  It  made  the 
Christian  guilty  of  his  own  death,  and  an  accom- 
plice in  the  persecutor's  crime.''  But  the  heroic 
endurance  of  unforeseen  attack  had  its  own  joy. 
The  "noble  athletes,"  as  the  churches  of  Lyons 
and  Vienne  wrote  to  the  brethren  in  Asia  and 
Phrygia,  conquered  grandly,  and  it  was  fitting 
that  they  should  receive  the  incorruptible  crown. 
As  Blandina  hung  upon  the  stake  exposed  to  the 
beasts,  did  not  her  fellow- sufferers  see  in  her 
form  the  very  Christ  who  was  crucified  for  them  ?  ^ 

'  Hermas,  Shepherd,  Vis.  Ill,  ii,  i. 

*  De  Morte  Peregrini,  xiii  (tr,  W.  Warde  Fowler). 

3  TertuUian,  Ad  Scapulam  (after  August  14,  212  a.d.),  v. 

"  Strom.,  IV,  X,  §  77,  ed.  Stahlin  (1906),  ii,  p.  282. 

s  Euseb.,  Hist.  Eccl.,  V,  i,  37,  41. 


Christianity  as  Personal  Salvation   47 

Visions  of  wondrous  beauty  were  vouchsafed 
to  Perpetua  and  Saturus  in  their  imprison- 
ment.^ The  martyrs,  it  was  believed,  were 
changed  into  angels^;  and  Saturus  recorded  how 
in  freedom  from  their  mangled  bodies  he  and 
Perpetua  were  borne  by  angels  into  the  presence 
of  their  Lord.  ^  Such  were  the  hopes  and  comforts 
which  conquered  agony,  and  opened  the  way  into 
eternal  peace. 

Another  aspect  of  salvation  reveals  it  not  as  a 
future  destiny  but  as  a  blessing  already  realized. 
Behind  the  eschatology  of  the  Apostle  Paul  with  its 
promises  of  resurrection  and  change  lies  the 
conviction  of  the  mystical  union  of  the  believer 
with  his  Lord.  He  is  baptized  into  his  death,  he 
shares  his  risen  life.  The  spirit  has  actually 
entered  into  him;  it  gradually  slays  the  actions  of 
the  body,-*  and  prepares  it  to  receive  the  great 
quickening  which  will  transmute  it  into  incorrup- 
tion.  Thus  renewed  the  believer  has  already  come 
within  the  Rule  of  God;  the  life  of  righteousness 
and  peace  and  joy^  is  itself  salvation.  It  is  the 
translation  of  the  soul  from  gloom  to  brightness: 
"Ye  were  once  darkness,  but  are  now  Hght  in  the 
Lord."^  In  the  fourth  Gospel  these  are  the  terms 
of  a  moral  dualism  in  the  field  of  humanity  where 
they  were  engaged  in  perpetual  struggle.     The 

'  Suffered  at  Carthage,  about  202. 
'  Hermas,  Shepherd,  Vis.  II,  ii,  7;  Martyr.  Polycarp.,  ii. 
J  Passio   SS.    Felicilatis   et  Perpetua:    (Cambridge    Texts   and 
Studies,  1891),  xi.  ■<  Rom.  viii,  13;  cp.  Col.  iii,  5. 

iRom.  xiv,  17.  ^  Eph.  v,  8;  cp.  Rom.  xiii,  12;  i  Pet.  ii,  9. 


48        Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

darkness,  indeed,  never  gained  the  victory,  and 
with  the  advent  of  the  Son  it  passed  as  the  true 
light  shone  over  the  world.  Salvation  consisted 
in  letting  in  the  light,  in  opening  blind  eyes  that 
they  might  see:  and  judgment  was  the  self-acting 
test  whether  men  would  submit  their  works  to  its 
illumination  or  cover  them  up  from  its  reproof. 
On  the  one  side  was  the  life  of  truth  and  righteous- 
ness, knowledge  and  liberty,  on  the  other  the 
death  of  falsehood  and  sin,  error  and  bondage.  To 
pass  from  one  sphere  to  the  other  was  to  secure  a 
new  quality  of  being;  it  was  to  be  born  from  above, 
to  be  born  out  of  God,  to  be  assured  of  likeness  to 
him  when  he  should  be  seen  as  he  is.  ^ 

To  this  type  of  Christian  thought  a  remarkable 
parallel  has  been  recently  discovered  in  the  Odes 
of  Solomon^  known  to  the  Church  for  several 
centuries,  but  long  lost  to  view.  That  they  were 
written  originally  in  Greek  is  universally  conceded, 
but  when  and  where?  Some  of  the  poems  are 
obviously  Christian,  for  they  speak  of  the  Son,  the 
Lord,  the  Word,  and  the  Beloved,  though  they 
never  name  Jesus,  his  teaching,  or  his  cross.  There 
is  no  reference  to  Church  or  Sacraments.  Nor  are 
there,  in  hymns  untinctured  by  Christian  language, 
any  allusions   to   the   Mosaic    Law    or    Temple 

'  John  iii,  3;  i  John  iii,  9,  2. 

'  The  publication  of  these  poems  from  a  Syriac  text  by  Dr. 
Rendel  Harris  in  1909  excited  immediate  interest.  See  the  trans- 
lations and  comments  of  Flemming  and  Harnack,  Ein  Jiidisch- 
Christliches  Psalmbuch  aus  dem  Ersteti  Jahrhundert,  Leipzig,  1910, 
and  Labourt  and  Batiffol,  Les  Odes  de  Salomon,  Paris,  191 1. 


Christianity  as  Personal  Salvation   49 

ceremonies.  If  they  are  of  Jewish  origin  adapted  to 
Christian  use,  they  reveal  the  existence  of  a  type  of 
inward  experience  in  the  later  Israel  unknown 
before.  If  they  must  be  credited  wholly  to  the 
new  faith,  they  are  no  less  valuable;  the  piety 
which  prompts  them  is  not  that  of  a  single  mind; 
like  the  Imitatio  Christi  or  the  Theologia  Germanica 
or  the  fourth  Gospel  itself,  they  rest  on  the 
thought  and  devotion  of  many  hearts.  Here  are 
several  of  the  Johannine  terms,  light,  truth,  life, 
love;  but  the  Word  is  not  the  Johannine  Logos. 
The  imagery  is  that  of  Psalm  and  Prophecy,  there 
are  no  echoes  of  Gospel  parable  or  Apostolic 
exhortation.  The  Kingdom  of  God  is  out  of  sight. 
No  Gnostic  could  have  written  the  hymn  of 
creation  (xvi) ;  if  the  collection  was  designed  for  the 
use  of  catechumens  about  to  be  baptized,^  it  is 
surprising  that  it  is  silent  concerning  sin,  repent- 
ance, and  forgiveness. 

Many  are  the  notes  in  the  music  of  devotion 
that  are  heard  in  these  poems,  rising  above  deep 
undertones  of  trust  and  peace.  The  wonder  of 
relationship  to  the  Eternal  begets  infinite  joy, 
humility,  and  thankfulness.  "Thou  hast  given  us 
thy  fellowship;  not  that  thou  hadst  need  of  us,  but 
that  we  had  need  of  thee  "  (iv,  9).  This  marvel 
of  grace  is  reflected  everywhere,  in  the  beauty  of 
the  earth  and  sky  where  the  eye  sees  his  works  and 
the  ear  hears  his  thought  (xvi,  9  ff.)  in  perpetual 
activity.     But  it  is  especially  manifested  in  the 

'  J.  H.  Bernard,  Journal  oj  Theological  Studies,  October,  1910. 


50  Phases  of  Early  Christianity- 
interior  life  of  the  soul.  All  local  and  national 
associations  drop  away. '  The  believer  may  almost 
be  alone  in  the  universe  with  God  or  the  ' '  Beloved." 
In  this  intense  individualism  there  is  hardly  room 
for  any  human  sympathy ;  only  rarely  do  we  learn 
that  there  are  others  also  who  have  passed  from 
darkness  to  hght  and  belong  to  a  company  of 
saints  (xi,  i6).  Absorbed  in  the  mystery  of  open- 
ings of  knowledge  and  enlightenment,  the  simple 
heart  finds  no  way  hard;  "there  is  no  storm  in  the 
depths  of  illumined  thought ' '  (xxxiv,  1,3);  one  hour 
of  faith  is  more  precious  than  all  days  and  years, 
when  God  has  given  his  own  heart  to  the  faithful 
(iv,  3).  For  the  secret  of  religion  is  that  the  Lord 
imparts  himself  to  man.  ' '  He  became  like  me  in 
order  that  I  might  receive  him,  .  .  .  like  my  nature 
he  became  that  I  might  learn  him ' '  (vii,  5,8).  And 
this  bestowal  of  himself  carried  with  it  the  gladness 
cf  immortahty .  ' '  He  hath  opened  my  heart  by  his 
Hght,  and  he  hath  caused  to  dwell  in  me  his  death- 
less life"  (x,  i).  In  various  figures  is  this  union 
expressed.  ' '  The  Lord  renewed  me  in  his  raiment, 
and  possessed  me  by  his  Hght,  and  from  above  he 
gave  me  rest  in  incorruption  "  (xi,  10) .  The  Virgin 
Wisdom  enters  in  to  make  men  wise  in  the  ways  of 
truth;  "they  that  have  put  me  on  shah  not  suffer 
harm,  they  shall  possess  the  new  world  that  is 

'  A  solitary  allusion  to  a  temple  in  iv  is  interpreted  by  Well- 
hausen  of  the  ideal  community  of  believers;  by  Gunkel  of  the 
heavenly  sanctuary ;  by  others  of  the  Montanist  temple  at  Pepuza; 
cp.  Lect,  III. 


Christianity  as  Personal  Salvation   51 

incorrupt"  (xxxiii,  10).  "Hove  the  Beloved  [here 
the  tender  name  for  God]  and  my  soul  loves  him, 
and  where  his  rest  is,  there  also  am  I.  .  .  .  I  have 
been  united  [literally  "mingled"]  with  him'  .  .  . 
for  he  that  is  joined  to  him  that  is  immortal  will 
also  himself  become  immortal ' '  (iii,  5,8,10).  Else- 
where the  faithful  are  changed  into  Christ:  "I 
went  to  all  my  prisoners  to  loose  them,  that  I 
might  not  leave  any  man  bound  or  binding.  And 
I  imparted  my  knowledge  without  grudging,  and 
my  prayer  was  in  my  love;  and  I  sowed  my  fruit 
in  hearts,  and  transformed  them  into  myself;  and 
they  received  my  blessing  and  lived"  (xvii,  11-13). 
Such  was  the  imio  mystica  between  the  disciples 
and  their  Lord. 

This  type  of  mysticism  is  not  without  its 
analogies  elsewhere.  The  Orphic  teachers  had 
for  many  centuries  held  up  participation  in  divine 
life  as  the  goal  of  human  endeavour.  The  way 
to  it  lay  through  perfect  purity.  But  they  did 
not  so  much  seek  purity,  says  Miss  Harrison,^ 
that  they  might  become  divinely  immortal,  they 
needed  immortaHty  that  they  might  become 
divinely  pure.  In  the  remarkable  tablets  recently 
found  in  Italy  (and  ascribed  to  the  fourth  and 
third  centuries  B.C.)  the  soul  on  its  journey  to  the 
higher  Hfe  is  addressed,  "Hail  thou  who  hast 
suffered  the  suffering  .  .  .  thou  hast  become  god 

I  Harnack  strikes  out  9  as  a  Christian  interpolation,  "  because 
I  love  him,  the  Son,  I  shall  be  a  Son." 

"  Prolegomena  to  the  Study  of  Creek  Religion,  p.  478. 


52        Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

from  man."'  From  the  long  process  of  purifica- 
tion the  discipUned  spirit  approaches  the  throne  of 
Queen  Persephone,  and  announces  to  her  and  the 
other  immortal  gods,  "I,  too,  avow  me  to  be  of 
your  happy  race,"  and  receives  the  greeting, 
"Happy  and  blessed  one,  thou  shalt  be  a  god 
(divine)  instead  of  a  mortal."  This  was  the  con- 
summation of  a  long  ascent  through  various  grades 
of  being.  Clement  of  Alexandria  quotes  approv- 
ingly the  Hnes  of  Empedocles  of  Agrigentum^: 

At  last  as  prophets,  singers,  and  physicians, 
And  chieftains  among  men,  on  earth  they  live, 
Thence  grow  up  to  be  gods  supreme  in  honours. 

Rest  in  eternity  is  the  reward  of  the  holy  life,  says 
Clement, ^  citing  Empedocles  once  more;  "to  share 
the  hearth  and  table  of  the  immortals,  free  from 
human  ills."  Empedocles  himself  had  cHmbed 
the  toilsome  way,  and  at  the  beginning  of  his 
poem  on  Purifications  called  his  fellow-citizens  to 
witness  that  he  walked  among  them  no  longer  a 
mortal,  but  an  immortal  god.^ 

'  Prolegomena  to  the  Study  of  Greek  Religion,  p.  663.  The 
term  Oela  seems  to  be  used  here  (as  in  so  many  other  places)  in 
the  significance  of  "divine."  In  the  opening  of  Plato's  Sophistes 
Theodorus  repudiates  the  epithet  theos  applied  by  Socrates  to 
the  Elean  stranger  and  prefers  theios,  "divine."  On  theos  in  the 
"improper  sense"  cp.  Philo,  on  Dreams,  i,  39  (Cohn-Wendland, 
iii,  253-4). 

=  Strom.,  IV,  xxiii,  §  150,  apropos  of  the  Christian  use  of  Ps. 
Ixxxii,  6.    (See  below.) 

3  Strom.,  V,  xiv,  §  122  J. 

■»  Diels,  Fragmente  der  Vorsokratiker,  i,  p.  205. 


Christianity  as  Personal  Salvation   53 

In  the  first  century  of  our  era  this  hope  per- 
vaded the  higher  spiritual  philosophy.  Epictetus 
longs  for  his  disciples  to  show  him  ' '  a  human  soul 
ready  to  think  as  God  does,  .  .  .  desirous  from  a 
man  to  become  a  god,  and  in  this  poor  mortal 
body  thinking  of  his  fellowship  with  Zeus."'  The 
mystical  teachings  grouped  under  the  name  of 
Hermes  contain  more  than  one  answer  to  this 
aspiration.  "This  is  the  good  end,"  declares 
Poimandres  (the  "Man-Shepherd"),  "for  those 
who  have  gained  knowledge,  to  become  divine."^ 
For  God  was  continually  offering  himself  to  human 
souls:  "Holy  is  God  who  willeth  to  be  known,  and 
is  known  by  his  own."^  Self -communication  is  a 
necessity  of  the  Divine  Nature,  as  the  Moham- 
medan tradition  taught :  "  I  was  a  hidden  treasure 
and  I  desired  to  be  known,  so  I  created  the  creation 
in  order  that  I  might  be  known." ■*  This  might  be 
effected  in  more  than  one  way.  The  divine  power 
might  enter  the  human  frame,  and  possess  the 
worshipper,  just  as  ancient  Hebrew  thought  could 
describe  the  Spirit  of  Yahweh  as  "putting  on"  the 
person  of  Gideon  like  a  garment.  ^  It  was  the 
condition  of  "enthusiasm"  when  the  god  con- 
descended actually  to  dwell  in  man.     With  this 

» Arrian,  II,  xix  (Long's  translation).  "Fellowship,"  Koivuvla, 
as  in  I  Johfi,  i,  3. 

'  Poimandres,  xxvi.  (ascribed by  Reitzenstein  toabout  100  A.D.). 
The  word  Beudiivai,  "to  be  made  god,"  denotes  the  union  of  the 
highest  vision  of  the  Father. 

3  Ibid.,  xxxi.  1  Sell,  Essays  on  Islam  (1901),  p.  5. 

»  Judges  vi,  34;  cp.  I  Chron.  xii,  18;  2  Chron.  xxiv,  20. 


54        Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

conception  Hellenism  was  quite  familiar  alike  in 
its  magical  and  its  religious  aspect.  "Come  to 
me,"  runs  an  invocation  to  the  Spirit,  "and  enter 
into  my  soul,  that  it  may  be  moulded  into  the 
immortal  form  in  mighty  and  incorruptible  light."  ^ 
Or  the  same  idea  might  be  expressed  by  rebirth. 
From  torments  of  ignorance  and  concupiscence, 
error  and  anger,  and  their  kindred  evils,  twelve  in 
number,  must  the  soul  free  itself,  and  then  in  the 
solemn  stillness  comes  the  knowledge  of  God.  Ten 
new  powers  of  truth  and  good  arrive  and  take 
possession,  "the  birth  in  understanding^  is  accom- 
plished, and  by  this  birth  we  are  made  divine.  "^ 
When  the  disciple  exclaims,  "I  see  the  universe 
and  myself  in  Mind, ""•  Hermes  answers,  "This, 
my  son,  is  rebirth,"  and  to  the  enquiry  whether 
the  body,  composed  of  such  powers,  will  suffer 
dissolution,  he  replies,  "Dost  thou  not  know  that 
thou  art  divine  by  nature,  and  a  son  of  the  One, 
like  me?"s  It  is  the  vision  of  God  which  thus 
imparts  new  life:  "it  is  possible,"  says  Hermes, 
"for  the  soul  to  become  divine  while  still  dwelling 
in  a  human  body,  by  contemplating  the  beauty  of 
the  Good."^  On  this  vision  the  soul  must  fix  its 
gaze,  according  to  the  instructions  of  the  Ritual 
published  by  Dieterich  under  the  title  of  a  Mithras- 

'Kenyon,  Greek  Pap.,  I,  p.  102,  quoted  by  Reitzenstein,  Die 
Hellenistischen  Mysterien-Religionen,  p.  107.  The  spirit  is 
aepowerii. 

^  Corp.  Hermet.,  XIII,  x,  voepk  y4ve<ns.  3  4eedj0i}f>£v. 

1 1bid.,  xiii.  s  Ibid.,  xiv,  0ebs  Tr^cpvKat. 

*  Corp.  Herm.,  X,  vi;  dTrodeudrjvai. 


Christianity  as  Personal  Salvation   55 

Liturgy,  as  it  cried  to  the  Deity,  "Abide  with  me, 
leave  me  not." '  This  was  the  moment  of  the  new 
birth,  and  the  behever  could  pass  through  death 
"grown  up"  and  "delivered"  into  a  realm  beyond 
both  birth  and  death.  So  close  was  the  assimila- 
tion with  Deity  that  the  initiate  could  use  the  most 
intimate  language  of  all  identity,  "Thou  art  I  and 
I  am  thou."^  So  had  the  Hindu  mystic  hundreds 
of  years  before  reached  the  stage  in  which  he  could 
say  of  his  relation  to  the  Universal  Self,  ' '  That  art 
thou,"  and  declare  with  humble  confidence,  "I  am 
Brahma." ^  So,  hundreds  of  years  later,  would  the 
Sufi  reach  the  stage  of  Union  with  God,  and  declare, 
"By  the  help  of  God's  grace  I  am  now  become  safe, 
because  the  unseen  King  says  to  me,  'Thou  art 
thesoulof  the  World.'"4 

The  philosophical  Jew  like  Philo  was  not  un- 
affected by  this  tendency.  5  His  Scriptures  were 
full  of  suggestions  pointing  in  the  same  direction. 
Was  not  the  mind  of  a  wise  man  the  house  of  God, 
and  when  the  prophet  described  the  "walk  of 
God"  among  his  people  as  in  a  palace,  was  it  not 
of  this  place  of  sojourn  that  he  spoke  ?^  And 
seeing  that  God  penetrates  invisibly  in  the  region 
of  the  soul,  ought  we  not  to  prepare  it  to  be  a 
habitation  fit  for  God,  lest  he  depart  to  some  other 

'  Eine  Mithrasliturgie  (1903),  p.  14.  '  Ibid.,  p.  97. 

3  Chandog.  UpanisJiad,  vi,  8,  7;  Brihaddrany.  Up.,  i,  4,  10. 
<Sell,  Essays  on  Islam   (1901),  p.  29.     Cp.  Nicholson,   The 
Mystics  of  Islam  (1914),  p.  59. 
s  Cp.  Lect.  V. 
'  Fragm.  Anton.,  Ixxxii;  in  Mangey,  ii,  p.  672;  Lev.  xxvi,  12. 


56        Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

abode?  He  might,  indeed,  call  his  chosen  servant 
to  himself.  When  the  time  came  for  Moses  to  quit 
his  people  and  pass  to  heaven  and  become  immor- 
tal, ^  the  Father  transmuted  him  from  the  double 
state  of  soul  and  body  into  a  single  nature,  trans- 
forming him  completely  into  most  sunlike  Mind. 
This  was  the  glory  of  the  celestial  life,  the  medium 
of  the  divine  being  of  the  Father  himself. 

To  all  this  religious  language  Christianity  was 
the  heir.  It  supplied  the  forms  of  imagination,  it 
provided  the  instruments  of  expression.  If  Plato 
had  taught  that  "we  ought  to  fly  away  from  earth 
to  heaven  as  quickly  as  we  can ;  and  to  fly  away  is 
to  become  like  God  as  far  as  possible;  and  to 
become  like  him  is  to  become  holy,  just,  and  wise  "  ^ 
— the  Johannine  teacher  could  look  forward  to  the 
manifestation  which  would  enable  those  who  had 
been  born  of  God  to  be  like  him,  for  they  would 
see  him  as  he  is.  ^  But  the  conception  of  likeness 
might  be  even  transcended.  Salvation  might 
hold  out  a  still  higher  promise.  When  Justin  read 
in  Psalm  Ixxxii,  "God  standeth  in  the  congrega- 
tion of  the  gods.  ...  I  said.  Ye  are  gods  and 
are  all  children  of  the  Most  High,"  he  identified 
the  assembly  with  the  community  of  believers.'* 
There,  he  argued  triumphantly,  is  the  proof  that 

I  dvadavarll^effeai,  De  Vita  Mosis,  II,  288  (Cohn,  iv,  p.  267). 
Reitzenstein  has  shown  analogies  for  understanding  this  in  the 
sense  of  flecotf^vat,  Hellen.  Mysterien-Religionen,  p.  117. 

^  ThecEtdus,  176  B.,  tr.  Jowett.  ^  i  John  iii,  2. 

<  Dialogue,  cxxiv. 


Christianity  as  Personal  Salvation   57 

all  men  are  deemed  worthy  of  becoming  gods. 
In  the  short  "Address  to  the  Greeks"  which 
appears  to  belong  to  the  second  century,  though  it 
can  hardly  be  the  work  of  Justin,'  the  author 
declares  that  the  Word  by  its  teaching  makes 
mortals  immortals,  makes  mortals  gods.^  The- 
ophilus,  Bishop  of  Antioch  under  Marcus  AureHus 
and  Commodus,  lays  it  down  that  man  was  made 
by  nature  neither  mortal  nor  immortal.  Had  the 
Creator  made  him  immortal  from  the  beginning, 
he  would  have  made  him  god  (divine).  Had  he 
made  him  mortal,  he  would  have  been  himself  the 
cause  of  man's  death.  He  therefore  made  him 
capable  of  either.  If  he  kept  God's  command- 
ment he  should  receive  immortality  and  become 
theos.^  To  Clement  at  Alexandria  this  high  de- 
stiny is  the  result  of  the  true  gnosis  or  knowledge, 
which  culminates  in  the  lofty  vision  of  the  Eternal.  ^ 
Had  not  Plato  already  said  that  he  who  devotes 
himself  to  the  contemplation  of  ideas  will  live  as  a 
god  among  men  ?  ^  So  Clement  teaches  that  the 
soul  may  be  lifted  to  heavenly  rank  and  enrolled 
already  among  the  gods,^  of  whom  David  had 
already  prophetically  sung.^  It  was  for  this  end 
that  the  Word  became  man,  that  we  might  learn 

'  Kruger,  Early  Christian  Literature,  p.  113. 
'  Oral,  ad  Grcec,  v. 

^  Ad  Autol.,  II,  xxvii,  Kal  y^vqTai  deS^. 

*  See  below,  Lect.  V.      Cp.  the  language  attributed  by  Hip- 
polytus  to  the  Phrygians,  Refutation,  V,  iii. 

s  Strom.,  IV,  xxv,  §  155^  *  Strom.,  VII,  x,  §  56*. 

1  Ps.  Ixxxii;  Strom.,  II,  xx,  §  125  3-s;  IV,  xxiii,  §  149^ 


58         Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

from  man  how  man  may  become  God. '  The  phrase 
becomes  a  watchword.  Irenaeus  repeats  it  with  a 
sHght  modification  of  its  terms,  but  with  none  in 
its  meaning.  ' '  The  Son  of  God  became  Son  of  Man 
that  man,  by  containing  (x^pr^aaq)  the  Word  and 
receiving  the  Adoption,  might  become  the  Son  of 
God."^  The  vast  drama  of  salvation  as  Irenaeus 
conceived  it  will  be  described  hereafter  3;  its  goal 
was  the  gift  of  immortality.  Here  is  the  special 
quality  which  makes  man  theos.  It  has  a  sac- 
ramental aspect  through  its  connection  with 
Baptism  and  the  new  birth  and  with  the  Eucharist 
as  life-giving  food."  It  has  a  Scriptural  proof  in 
the  identification  of  the  ' '  congregation  of  the  gods  " 
{Ps.  Ixxxii)  with  the  Church,  where  the  Father, 
the  Son,  and  those  who  have  received  the  adop- 
tion, dwell  together.  5  It  is  realized  mystically 
through  the  blessed  vision  which  is  God's  own 
means  of  quickening  the  pure  and  holy  soul.  A 
mighty  scheme  of  progressive  development  looms 
before  his  thought,  ^  by  which  man  should  advance 
from  his  creation,  should  increase  in  strength, 
should  sin  and  recover,  and  finally  should  see  his 
Lord.  This  brings  him  to  the  fulfilment  of  God's 
purpose,  for  eternal  life  comes  to  him  who  sees 
God;  to  behold  him  produces  immortality;  only 

'  Protrept.,  i,  8,  §  4;  perhaps  previous  to  189  a.d.     Kriiger,  p. 
166. 

^  Adv.  Har.,  Ill,  xix,  i. 

3  See  below,  Lect.  II.  "  See  Lect.  IV. 

s  Adv.  Har.,  Ill,  vi,  i.     Cp.  Clem,  Alex.,  Protrept.,  xii.,  §  123'. 
'  Ibid.,  IV,  xxxviii.,  3. 


Christianity  as  Personal  Salvation   59 

through  being  joined  to  God  could  he  participate 
in  incorruption.^ 

Two  ways  will  thus  be  opened  to  the  Church  at 
the  beginning  of  the  third  century.  The  same  mind 
may  sometimes  traverse  both.  Hippolytus^  can 
lay  it  down  in  the  baldest  terms  that  the  Father 
of  immortality  sent  the  immortal  Son  into  the 
world  in  order  to  wash  man  with  water  and  Spirit, 
by  which  the  believer  was  begotten  to  incorruption 
of  soul  and  body.  "If,  therefore,  man  has  become 
immortal,  he  will  also  be  God."  He  is  "made  God 
by  water  and  the  Holy  Spirit  after  the  regeneration 
of  the  bath."  ^  Well,  therefore,  may  he  summon  all 
the  nations  to  '  *  the  immortaUty  of  baptism. ' '  But 
in  the  address  to  Greeks  and  barbarians  from  the 
Indians  to  the  Celts  with  which  he  concludes  his 
"Refutation  of  all  Heresies"  (X,  xxx),  he  strikes  a 
different  note.  ' '  Be  instructed, ' '  he  pleads,  ' ' in  the 
knowledge  of  the  true  God,  and  thou  shalt  possess 
an  immortal  body  just  like  the  soul.  Thou  shalt 
be  a  companion  of  Deity  and  a  joint  heir  with 
Christ,  for  thou  hast  become  God,  thou  hast  been 
deified  and  begotten  unto  immortality."''  This  is 
the  meaning  of  the  ancient  saying,  * '  Know  thyself. ' ' 
"Learn  to  discover  God  within,  for  he  has  formed 

'  Adv.  liar.,  IV,  XX,  5;  xxxviii,  3;  III,  xviii,  7. 

'  Presbyter  at  Rome,  student  of  Irenasus  in  theology;  died 

236-7  A.D. 

3  On  the  Holy  Theophany,  viii.     Cp.  Lect.  IV. 

*  The  passage  is  condensed,  with  some  omissions.  The  con- 
cluding sentence  runs:  7^7o''aj  7ap^e6s  .  .  .  SrLi0eoTron^dr]s,d6di/aTOS 
yevvrjdeli. 


6o         Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

thee  after  his  own  image."  So  do  opposite  ten- 
dencies struggle  for  mastery.  It  is  a  symbol  of  the 
whole  future  history  of  the  Church.  Ecclesiastical 
order,  venerable  rites,  sacred  tradition,  fixity  of 
usage  and  belief,  institutional  cohesion,  and  the 
enthusiasm  born  of  corporate  action  on  the  one 
hand, — liberty  of  judgment,  the  free  life  of  the 
spirit,  development  of  religious  thought  in  the 
light  of  advancing  knowledge,  fresh  applications 
of  truth  to  the  needs  of  a  social  order  that  can 
never  cease  to  change,  upon  the  other — this  is  the 
choice  which  is  for  ever  presented  to  us.  You  may 
take  which  you  please,  said  Emerson,  you  never 
can  have  both. 


,  LECTURE  II 
THE  PERSON  AND  WORK  OF  THE  SAVIOUR 

WHEN  Pliny  described  the  Christians  in 
Bithynia  as  singing  hymns  to  Christ  quasi 
Deo, '  he  fixed  on  an  element  in  their  practice  which 
was  at  once  the  expression  and  the  support  of 
faith.  All  over  the  East  there  were  associations 
for  special  cults,  often  linked  with  particular  types 
of  mysteries.  Orpheus,  for  instance,  was  the 
object  of  worship  in  numerous  guilds,  sometimes 
in  union  with  the  Muses,  or  with  his  father  Apollo 
(according  to  one  form  of  the  legend)  or  with 
Dionysos  and  his  satyrs.  They  preserved  sacred 
traditions  of  their  reputed  founder  as  the  author  of 
poetry  and  song,  and  they  cherished  certain  rules 
of  the  devout  life.  They  developed  a  mystical 
theology,  partly  enshrined  in  a  late  collection  of 
hymns  bearing  his  name ;  and  they  sought  by  holy 
rites  to  lighten  the  lot  of  those  who  had  passed 
into  the  world  beyond  the  grave.''  In  their 
common  worship  they  united  in  sacrifice  and 
prayer:  "Hear  me  with  kindly  mind,"  sang  the 

'  Cp.  Lect.  I,  p.  I. 

»Cp.  Grappe,  in  Roscher's  Lexikon,  III,  i,  p.  1107. 
61 


62         Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

ministrant  to  Apollo,  "as  I  pray  for  the  people 
.  .  .  hear  me,  O  Blessed,  who  savest  the  mystce. " ' 
Orpheus  had  gone  down  into  the  underworld, 
and  the  story  of  his  Katahasis  (descent)  was  the 
forerunner  of  the  long  series  which  culminated  in 
Dante's  Inferno.  He  was  associated,  therefore, 
with  the  hope  of  immortality;  he  brought  peace 
and  harmony  into  the  strife  of  beasts;  he  was  the 
^ouxoXoq  or  Shepherd  of  the  beHevers.  ^  Such  affini- 
ties were  discerned  by  the  primitive  Christians  be- 
tween Orpheus  and  their  own  "Teacher"  that 
they  painted  his  figure  on  the  walls  of  their  cata- 
combs as  the  musician  subduing  savage  Hons,  or 
carved  it  on  their  sarcophagi,  in  close  connection 
with  the  type  of  the  Good  Shepherd. 

Hellenic  theology  (as  we  have  seen  3)  readily 
applied  the  title  Theos  to  those  who  had  attained 
immortality:  and  this  was  the  more  natural  for 
Greek-speaking  Christians  when  the  primitive 
confession  that  "Jesus  is  Lord"^  was  carried  from 
Jerusalem  throughout  the  East.  The  first  sermon 
attributed  to  Peter  at  Pentecost  declared  that 
God  had  made  Jesus  both  Lord  and  Messiah  by 
the  resurrection,  s  Jesus  had  himself,  in  accord- 
ance (it  would  seem)  with  current  usage,  appHed 
the  language  of  Psalm  ex  with  the  same  meaning.  ^ 

I  Hymns,  xxxiv,  lo,  27;  the  y^o.ol  are  apparently  the  initiated, 
the  members  of  the  community. 

»  On  this  title  cp.  Maass,  Orpheus  (1895),  P-  180. 

3  Cp.  Lect.  I,  p.  52.     "  Rom.  x,  9;  l  Cor.  xii,  3.     s  Acts  ii,  36. 

^  Mark  xii,  35-37.  Professor  Bousset  in  his  exhaustive  work 
Kyrios  Christos  (1913)  regards  this  as  a  piece  of  later  dogmatics, 


The  Person  and  Work  of  the  Saviour  63 

The  formula  Mar  an  athd,  "Our  Lord  is  coming" 
(or  "Our  Lord,  come!",  I  Cor.  xvi,  22),  points 
to  a  primitive  use  in  the  Aramean  vernacular  of 
the  early  Church;  and  behind  the  Church  stood 
the  Jewish  piety  which  had  long  ceased  to  use  the 
ancient  divine  name  Yahweh,  and  substituted  for 
it  a  word  represented  in  the  Greek  version  of  the 
Scriptures  by  the  term  Kyrios,  "the  Lord." 
This  enabled  the  Apostle  Paul  to  apply  to  Jesus 
as  the  Messiah  a  number  of  passages  which  in  their 
original  context  in  the  Old  Testament  referred  to 
the  God  of  Israel.  He  distinguishes  in  the  most 
formal  manner  between  "one  God,  the  Father,  of 
whom  are  all  things,"  and  "one  Lord,  Jesus 
Christ,  through  whom  are  all  things"';  and  the 
letter  to  the  Ephesians  (round  which  so  many 
puzzling  problems  gather)  actually  designates 
the  Father  as  "the  God  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ" 
(i,  17).  But  the  term  Kyrios  carried  with  it 
throughout  the  East  exalted  meanings,  and  was 
applied  to  a  wide  range  of  deities. 

The  correlative  of  "Lord"  was  "slave,"  the 
equivalent  of  the  ancient  Hebrew  term  which 
described  the  prophets  as  the  "slaves "  of  Yahweh. '' 
It  was  the  current  designation  for  the  worshippers 

p,  51,  and  supposes  the  title  to  have  arisen  in  the  early  Hellenist 
Christian  communities,  p.  119,  possibly  at  Antioch.  In  Preu- 
schen's  Zeitschr.  fiir  N.  T.  Wissenschafl,  XIV  (1913),  p.  28, 
B6hlig  argues  for  a  Syrian  origin,  against  Johannes  Weiss  who 
follows  the  usual  view  that  the  formula  Mardn  athd  was  Judeo- 
Christian. 

'  I  Cor.  viii,  6;  cp.  Eph.  iv,  5-6.  'Amos  iii,  7. 


64         Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

of  Oriental  powers,  but  did  not  belong  to  the 
religious  vocabulary  of  Greece.  Paul  does  not 
hesitate  to  announce  himself  as  the  "slave"  of 
Jesus  Christ, '  but  at  the  same  time  he  is  eager  to 
tell  the  slave  who  is  called  in  the  Lord  that  he  is 
the  Lord's  freeman.^  For  Christ  brings  liberty 
to  the  slave  of  sin;  he  turns  the  servitude  of  the 
law  into  the  adoption  of  sonship ;  from  bondage  to 
the  agents  that  guide  the  heavenly  bodies  but  are 
no  real  gods  he  rescues  the  believer  into  the 
freedom  of  true  knowledge. ^  "You  were  bought 
with  a  price,"  he  tells  the  Corinthians, ''  using  the 
customary  terms  of  manumission.  ^  One  aspect 
of  redemption  was  the  behever's  deliverance  from 
the  control  of  hostile  powers;  and  this  implied 
still  more  exalted  might  in  the  Redeemer. 

Many  were  the  deities  whose  worshippers  thus 
inscribed  themselves  their  "slaves."  The  title 
Kyrios  is  found  all  through  the  East  from  Egypt 
to  Syria,  Asia  Minor,  Thrace.  It  was  bestowed 
upon  the  gods  of  the  Nile,  like  Anubis,  Osiris,  or 
Sarapis^;  and  the  Lady  Isis  was  designated  Kyria. 
Obscure  Semitic  forms  bore  it  in  the  neighbour- 

» Rom.  I,  I,  "  I  Cor.  vii,  22.  3  Gal.  iv,  l-io. 

*  I  Cor.  vi,  20;  vii,  23. 

5  Deissmann,  Light  from  the  Ancient  East  (1910),  p.  328.  The 
fourth  Gospel  sets  the  term  aside:  "No  longer  do  I  call  you 
slaves,  for  the  slave  knows  not  what  the  Kyrios  does,  but  I 
have  called  you  friends"  (xv,  15). 

*  The  second-century  invitations  to  sup  at  the  table  of  the 
Lord  Sarapis  are  now  well  known.  Oxyrhynchus  Papyri,  Nos. 
no  and  523. 


The  Person  and  Work  of  the  Saviour  65 

hood  of  the  great  Hellenic  figures  of  Apollo,  As- 
klepios,  Dionysos,  Hermes,  Pluto,  Zeus,  beside  the 
majestic  goddesses  Artemis,  Athena,  Hera,  and 
the  stern  Nemesis.  The  title  thus  carried  implica- 
tions of  deity  within  it,  which  were  enhanced 
by  its  adoption  in  imperial  style.  "  Dommiis  et 
Deus  metis''  wrote  the  secretary  of  Domitian  on 
his  master's  behalf.^  Augustus  and  Tiberius  had 
forbidden  the  use  of  the  term  concerning  them- 
selves, but  it  crept  in  from  the  court-homage  of  the 
East;  Caligula  allowed  it;  it  was  employed  for 
Claudius ;  it  became  well  established  under  Nero,  ^ 
who  was  called  "Lord  of  the  whole  world."  To 
this  claim  Antoninus  Pius  added  the  ocean-sover- 
eignty: "I  am  Lord  of  the  world  and  the  Law  of 
the  sea.  "^  Such  assumption  awoke  repeated 
protest.  Soon  after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem 
in  A.  D.  70,  Jews  in  Egypt,  men  and  boys,  siiffered 
death,  refusing  to  call  Ceesar  "  Lord, "  because  they 
held  that  title  to  belong  to  God  alone*  To  the 
deity  of  Caesar  the  Christian  opposed  the  heavenly 
sovereign  whom  the  seer  of  the  Apocalypse  beheld 
riding  forth  to  war  with  the  mysterious  name  upon 
his  thigh,  "King  of  Kings  and  Lord  of  Lords. "^ 
When   the   martyrs   of   Scilli   in   Numidia   were 

*  Suetonius,  Domitian,  xiii. 

'  Cp.  Deissmann,  Light  from  the  Ancient  East,  pp.  357-8. 
3  Lietzmann,  Handbuch  zurn  Neuen  Test.,  iii  (1906),  p.  54,  on 
Rom.  X,  9. 

1  Josephus,  Wars,  VII,  x,  I,  cited  by  Deissmann,  LigJtt,  etc., 

P- 359- 

s  Rev.  xix,  16. 

S 


66         Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

brought  before  the  proconsul  Saturninus,  A.D. 
i8o,  he  bade  them  "swear  by  the  Genius  of  our 
Lord  the  Emperor."  "The  empire  of  this  world 
I  know  not, "  repHed  Speratus ;  "  I  know  my  Lord, 
the  King  of  Kings  and  Emperor  of  all  nations."' 
Like  the  term  Soter,  Kyrios  also  served  to  point 
the  contrast  between  two  powers.  What  was  the 
might  seated  upon  the  Seven  Hills  compared  with 
the  majesty  throned  at  God's  right  hand,  and 
invested  with  the  supremacy  over  the  hierarchies 
of  heaven,  the  dwellers  upon  earth,  and  the  de- 
monic hosts  inhabiting  the  realms  beneath!'' 
;  This  was  the  corollary  in  the  Christian's  confes- 
sion according  to  the  Apostle  Paul :  Jesus  was  Lord 
and  God  had  raised  him  from  the  dead.  At 
Jerusalem  the  argument  had  been  reversed.  God 
had  raised  Jesus,  and  thereby  made  him  Lord. 
Paul  speaks  out  of  an  immediate  experience  which 
he  could  interpret  only  in  one  way.  He  had  been 
arrested  midway  in  his  course;  a  power  from 
heaven  had  laid  hold  of  him;  light  burst  upon  him, 
a  voice  sounded  through  the  air;  henceforth  he 
belonged  no  more  to  himself ;  he  had  been  captured 
by  Christ  who  had  died  for  him;  what  could  he 
do  but  give  his  life  to  him!  From  day  to  day  he 
spoke  and  wrought  and  suffered  in  the  strength 
of  Another  who  was  his  real  owner.  As  he  carried 
the  good  news  from  city  to  city,  he  saw  others 

I  Cambridge  Texts  and  Studies,  ed.  J.  A.  Robinson,  Vol.  I,  no.  2 
(1891),  p.  112. 

'Philipp.  ii,  lO-II. 


The  Person  and  Work  of  the  Saviour  67 

transformed  after  they  had  heard  the  word.  The 
new  Hfe  was  incalculably  diffusive,  it  could  not  be 
confined  by  race  or  rank  or  sex.  Christ  was  the 
same  to  Greek  and  Jew,  to  slave  and  free.  This 
deathless  being  shared  the  immortality  of  God. 
First-born  among  many  brethren '  he  stood  at  the 
head  of  the  new  spiritual  humanity.  As  Son  of 
Man  all  things  were  subjected  to  him.  The 
mysterious  forces  of  evil  in  the  worlds  above,  the 
Principalities,  Authorities,  and  Powers,  ^  should  be 
brought  to  nought,  and  Death  himself,  last  and 
worst  enemy,  at  length  should  die.  Then  the 
victorious  Lord  would  make  a  second  great  sur- 
render. Once  he  had  relinquished  his  glorious 
form,  accepted  the  lot  of  our  mortality,  and 
condescended  to  die  upon  the  cross.  Now  he 
would  resign  the  sovereignty  conferred  upon 
him  for  his  strenuous  task,  would  lay  aside  the 
conqueror's  majesty,  present  to  God  a  world 
cleared  of  all  enemies,  and  submit  himself  once 
more  to  the  Father's  will,  that  God  might  be 
all  in  all.  ^ 

Into  the  fellowship  of  this  august  Lord  the  dis- 
ciple was  baptized.  His  name  was  invoked  on  the 
believer  who  was  thus  consecrated  to  him,  brought 
into  the  sphere  of  his  influence,  and  made  an  actual 
sharer  in  his  death  and  resurrection."  The 
"saints"  were  crucified  to  the  world;  they  were 

^  Rom.  viii,  29;  Rev.  i.,  5  more  explicitly,  "first-bom  from 
the  dead." 

'See  Note  A,  p.  129.        3  i  Cor.  xv,  24-28.        ■•  Cp.  Lect.  IV. 


68        Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

risen  with  Christ ;  the  Spirit  which  was  the  pledge 
of  immortahty  had  been  implanted  in  them. 
The  whole  life  of  the  Church  was  enveloped  in  the 
age-long  purpose  of  God,  and  it  drew  its  daily 
strength  from  its  heavenly  Head.  By  the  identi- 
fication of  "the  Lord"  with  "the  Spirit"  all  the 
new  powers  and  energies  developed  under  its 
influence  were  transformed  into  personal  gifts  from 
the  ascended  Christ.  ^  From  him  came  the  wisdom 
of  the  teacher,  the  vision  of  the  prophet,  the 
skill  of  the  administrator.  His  was  the  force  that 
healed  disease  and  controlled  tormenting  demons; 
the  words  of  edification  and  comfort  flowed  from 
his  inspiration.  The  broken  bread,  the  cup  of 
wine,  eaten  and  drunk  in  remembrance  of  him, 
brought  the  brethren  into  the  most  intimate 
relation  with  him.^  Prayer  rose  from  the  con- 
gregation in  his  name;  and  psalm  and  hj'-mn  were 
charged  with  the  intense  emotion  of  those  who  had 
cast  off  the  works  of  darkness  and  put  on  the 
armour  of  light.  Before  them  stood  the  judg- 
ment-seat of  God,  but  it  was  Christ  who  would 
test  the  secrets  of  their  hearts.  ^  Was  it  surprising 
that  "the  man  whom  God  had  ordained"  for  that 
exalted  function  "•  should  rise  into  proportions 
no  other  than  divine? 

The  heirs  of  the  Jerusalem  tradition  did  not  all, 
indeed,  share  these  vivid  experiences.  In  the 
ancient  capital  stood  the  Temple,  the  centre  of 

'  2  Cor.  iii,  17;  I  Cor.  xii,  4  ff.;  Eph.  iv,  7  fit. 

'  Cp.  Lect.  IV.         3  Rom.  ii,  16;  xiv,  10.  *  Acts  xvii,  31. 


The  Person  and  Work  of  the  Saviour  69 

hallowed  worship  to  which  the  eyes  of  the  Jew 
turned  with  longing  from  the  most  distant  lands. 
There  was  the  home  of  the  Law-,  the  divine  gift 
to  Israel  among  all  the  nations  of  the  earth,  its 
unique  privilege,  its  most  cherished  possession. 
To  this  the  first  believers  remained  loyal.  They 
daily  thronged  the  Temple  courts;  they  kept  the 
Sabbath ;  they  observed  the  dietary  rules ;  and  they 
expected  that  their  converts  would  maintain  the 
usages  which  separated  the  Gentile  from  the  Jew. 
What  difficulties  arose  when  the  new  faith  was 
carried  beyond  the  limits  of  Palestine,  the  letters 
of  the  Apostle  Paul  and  the  narrative  of  the  book 
of  Acts  sufficiently  reveal.  At  the  head  of  the 
Jerusalem  church  was  James,  the  brother  of  the 
Lord,  whose  strict  adhesion  to  the  venerable  de- 
mands of  his  religion  gained  for  him  the  designation 
of  "the  Righteous."  Shortly  after  his  death'  (in 
the  year  61  or  62  a.d.)  came  the  beginnings  of 
revolt  in  the  desperate  attempt  to  recover  national 
independence.  Judasa  and  Galilee  were  filled  with 
wild  hopes  roused  by  patriots  and  prophets  pre- 
dicting the  advent  of  a  new  age.  The  four  years 
of  the  Roman  terror  (66-70  a.d.)  ended  in  the  fall 
of  Jerusalem  and  the  destruction  of  the  Temple. 
The  agony  of  those  days  is  reflected  in  the  dis- 
course attributed  to  Jesus  on  the  Mount  of  Olives.  ^ 
The  Christians  probably  took  no  share  in  the  rebel- 

'  Mentioned  by   the  Jewish   historian  Joscphus,  A?itiquilies, 
XX,  ix. 

*  Mark  xiii,  and  parallels. 


70         Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

lion,  but  as  the  Roman  troops  paraded  the  country 
they  may  have  been  involved  in  the  fate  of  the 
vanquished.  Many  local  congregations  were 
broken  up,  the  groups  of  the  faithful  were  dis- 
persed, little  knots  of  behevers  disappeared,  plun- 
dered, outraged,  enslaved.  From  the  doomed  city 
a  devout  band  made  their  escape  under  prophetic 
warning.  "The  people  of  the  church  in  Jeru- 
salem," Eusebius  relates,^  "had  been  commanded 
by  a  revelation,  vouchsafed  to  approved  men 
before  the  war,  to  leave  the  city  and  dwell  in  a 
certain  town  of  Perea  called  Pella. "  There  be- 
yond the  Jordan  on  the  north-east  in  the  territory 
of  Herod  Agrippa  II,  the  fugitives  found  a  home. 
The  fate  of  those  who  remained  was  involved  in 
the  great  tragedy,  and  only  doubtful  traditions 
show  the  pathetic  anxiety  of  the  survivors  to 
secure  the  leadership  of  relatives  of  Jesus.  One 
story  ran  that  after  the  capture  of  Jerusalem  the 
surviving  apostles  and  disciples  assembled  from 
all  parts  with  the  kinsmen  of  the  Lord  to  appoint 
a  successor  to  James.  The  choice  fell  on  Symeon, 
son  of  Clopas,  whom  Hegesippus  identified  as 
brother  of  Joseph.^  The  Jews  were  still  numer- 
ous enough  to  give  anxiety  to  the  Roman  govern- 
ment, and  the  same  collector  of  anecdotes  relates 
that  the  Emperor  Domitian  gave  orders  for  the 
execution  of  any  claimants  to  descent  from  David. 
Two  grandsons  of  Jude,  one  of  the  brothers  of 

'  Hist.  EccL,  III,  V. 

'  John  xix,  25;  Euseb.,  Hist.  EccL,  III,  xi;  cp.  IV,  xxii,  4. 


The  Person  and  Work  of  the  Saviour  71 

Jesus,  were  brought  before  him.^  They  owned  a 
little  farm  out  of  which  they  made  a  scanty  living, 
and  offered  their  hands,  rugged  with  labour,  in 
proof  of  their  humble  lot.  No  danger  threatened 
the  imperial  throne  from  such  representatives  of 
ancient  royalty.  Dismissed  with  scorn  they  re- 
turned to  their  poor  home,  and  became  rulers 
of  churches  as  witnesses  and  relatives  of  the 
Lord.^ 

Small  scattered  meetings  thus  preserved  in 
remote  towns  and  hamlets  the  memories  of  the 
early  days  of  the  community  at  Jerusalem. 
Their  members  were  the  heirs  of  the  situation 
indicated  in  the  book  of  Acts.  They  maintained 
the  observance  of  the  Jewish  Law;  they  practised 
circumcision  and  kept  the  Sabbath.  There  were 
some,  however,  who  did  not  impose  these  require- 
ments on  others;  and  Justin,  who  had  been  bom 
at  Neapolis  in  Samaria,  ^  thought  that  they  should 
be  received  in  fellowship  and  treated  in  all  re- 
spects as  brethren.  But  there  were  others  who 
still  wished  to  lay  on  Gentiles  the  duty  of  conform- 
ing to  the  traditional  ordinances,  and  refused  all 
intercourse  with  those  who  did  not  adopt  the 
Mosaic  rules.  Of  such  exclusiveness  Justin  did 
not  approve,  though  he  would  not  deny  that  con- 

'  Euseb.,  Hist.  Eccl.,  Ill,  xx. 

'  Symeon  was  said  to  have  lived  to  the  immense  age  of  120 
years,  when  he  suffered  crucifixion  under  Trajan.  Euseb.,  Hist. 
Eccl.,  Ill,  xxxii. 

3  The  modern  Nablous,  between  the  ancient  mountains  Ebal 
and  Gerizim. 


72         Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

verts  who  accepted  the  Law  might  still  be  saved.  ^ 
Both  these  types  of  Jewish  Christians  clung  to 
humanitarian  views  of  the  person  of  Christ;  they 
rejected  his  miraculous  conception  and  his  Deity. 
To  Justin  this  was  no  reason  for  refusing  them  the 
Christian  name :  differences  of  practice  were  then 
of  more  consequence  than  diversities  of  belief. 

In  the  next  generation,  however,  Irenaeus  reck- 
ons them  as  heretics,"  and  he  is  the  first  to  give 
them  the  well-known  name  of  Ebionites,  the  "Poor 
Men."  He  probably  had  no  personal  acquaint- 
ance with  them,  and  only  knew  them  by  repute. 
Against  the  Gnostics  they  held  the  ancient  Jewish 
doctrine  of  the  creation  of  the  world  by  God,  and 
were  thus  in  accord  with  orthodox  faith;  but  they 
persisted  in  believing  that  Jesus  was  born  in  human 
fashion;  and  they  repudiated  Paul  as  an  apostate 
from  the  Law.  So  Judaic  were  they  in  style  of 
life  that  they  even  adored  Jerusalem  as  the  house 
of  God.  They  were  known  to  Origen  in  the  middle 
of  the  third  century  when  he  had  long  been  resident 
at  Csesarea,  and  he  found  their  exemplar  in  Peter 
who  was  slow  in  learning  to  ascend  from  the  Law 
according  to  the  letter  to  that  which  is  interpreted 
in  the  spirit.  ^  Their  name  he  quaintly  derives 
from  the  poverty  of  the  Law;  others  cruelly  sug- 
gested the  paucity  of  their  intelHgence;  Eusebius 
explained  it  by  the  meanness  of  their  opinions 
concerning  Christ;  some  assimilated  them  with 

'  Dial.,  xlvii.  '  Adv.  Hares.,  I,  xxvi,  2. 

3  Contra  Cels.,  II,  i,  I. 


The  Person  and  Work  of  the  Saviour  73 

the  Poor  and  Meek  of  the  Psalms  and  Beatitudes; 
while  it  has  also  been  suggested  that  they  may 
have  been  known  in  Jerusalem  as  the  "Needy" 
from  the  economic  circumstances  of  the  early 
Church.  Small  congregations  still  maintained  a 
precarious  existence  in  the  fourth  century.  They 
possessed  a  Gospel  "according  to  the  Hebrews"^ 
which  began,  according  to  Epiphanius  (Bishop  of 
Salamis  in  Cyprus,  d.  403),  "It  came  to  pass  in 
the  days  of  Herod,  King  of  Judsea,  John  came  bap- 
tizing the  baptism  of  repentance  in  the  river 
Jordan."  To  the  heavenly  voice  recorded  in 
Matt,  iii.,  17,  a  second  utterance  was  added, 
"This  day  have  I  begotten  thee, "^  which  held  its 
own  for  more  than  three  centuries  among  Greek 
and  Latin  writers  both  in  the  East  and  West.^ 
But  this  type  of  Christianity  had  no  diffusive 
power.  Its  rigid  demands  met  no  universal  needs. 
A  Messiah  who  realized  his  function  through  the 
perfect  fulfilment  of  the  Law^  could  be  no  Re- 
deemer for  the  human  race.  Nevertheless  there 
were  elements  in  the  interpretation  of  the  person 

'  It  appears  to  have  existed  in  more  than  one  form,  and 
Jerome  found  a  copy  in  the  library  founded  by  the  martyr 
Pamphilus  at  Cassarea.  He  translated  it  from  the  vernacular 
Aramean  into  Greek,  and  records  that  it  was  regarded  by  many 
as  the  original  of  Matthew. 

^  An  allusion  to  Ps.  ii,  7.  This  is  the  well-known  reading 
of  the  Codex  BezcB  in  Luke  iii,  22.  On  the  so-called  "Adop- 
tianist"  Christology  see  Note  B.  See  the  passages  from  Jerome 
and  Epiphanius  in  Preuschen's  Antilegomena'',  pjx  3  ff.  and  9  flf. 

3  Cp.  Usener,  Das  Weihnachtsfest  (1889),  pp.  40-45. 

4  Cp.  Justin,  Dial.,  Ixvii. 


74        Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

of  Christ  which  could  not  be  repressed ;  and  when 
the  rationalism  of  later  days  broke  out  at  Rome  or 
Antioch,  a  filiation  with  a  mythical  founder  was 
estabhshed,  and  Artemas,  and  Paul  were  linked  in 
succession  to  an  imaginary  Ebion.  ^ 

Many  were  the  currents  of  thought  and  feeling 
in  the  wider  world,  which  played  on  the  new  faith 
as  it  encountered  ancient  cults  and  later-born 
philosophies.  Justin  did  not  disdain  to  commend 
it  to  Emperor  and  people  by  comparisons  and 
analogies  with  their  own  sacred  figures.  Even  if 
Jesus  were  a  man  by  ordinary  birth,  his  wisdom 
entitled  him  to  be  ranked  as  Son  of  God^;  but 
why  should  those  who  accepted  Perseus  as  virgin- 
born  refuse  to  believe  the  same  of  him?  The  won- 
drous cures  of  the  lame  and  blind  resembled  those 
ascribed  to  ^sculapius,  who  had  been  translated 
to  the  skies.  Spectators  even  swore  that  they 
had  seen  the  burning  Cassar  ascend  to  heaven 
from  the  funeral  pyre.  If  Hermes  was  the 
messenger  Logos  from  God,  interpreter  of  his  ways 
to  men,  why  not  also  Christ P^  The  missionary 
ardour  which  bore  the  new  teaching  from  city  to 
city   and   land   to  land    naturally    magnified   its 

'  Cp.  Euseb.,  Hist.  EccL,  VII,  xxx,  i6.  On  Artemas,  the  dis- 
ciple of  Theodotus  at  Rome,  and  Paul,  Bishop  of  Antioch  and 
Viceroy  of  Queen  Zenobia,  see  Note  D,  p.  133. 

^  So  Epictetus,  of  the  wise  man,  vibv  toO  GeoO,  Arrian,  I,  ix. 

3  I  Apol.,  xxi,  xxii.  On  the  application  of  such  terms  as  "  Lord," 
"Messenger  of  God,"  "God  among  men,"  "bishop"  (or  "over- 
seer"), to  philosophers,  see  Harnack,  Hist,  of  Dogma  (Engl. 
transL),  i,  p.  119%  fourth  German  ed.  (1909),  i,  p.  138. 


The  Person  and  Work  of  the  Saviour  75 

message.  Each  fresh  church,  though  it  might 
gather  within  it  but  a  dozen  famihes,  was  a  httle 
seed-plot  of  truth,  and  extended  the  reign  of  the 
heavenly  Lord.  The  victory  over  the  Powers  of 
Evil  became  day  by  day  more  sure  as  the  precious 
gift  of  immortality  was  conferred  upon  increasing 
multitudes;  what  a  note  of  triumph  soimds  again 
and  again  through  Christian  literature  as  the 
apologists  of  the  faith  describe  the  place  of  be- 
lievers in  the  society  around  them!  The  Chris- 
tians are  in  the  world  what  the  soul  is  in  the  body, 
says  the  author  of  the  Letter  to  Diognetiis  proudly.  ^ 
The  soul  is  diffused  through  every  limb,  and 
the  Christians  through  every  city.  Aristides 
had  ascribed  the  stability  of  the  universe  to 
their  intercession.^  Following  the  analogy  of  the 
soul  which  sustains  the  organism  enclosing  it, 
the  teacher  of  Diognetus  declares  that  though  the 
world  is  the  Christians'  prison,  they  supply  the 
energy  by  which  it  is  upheld.  And  as  the  vision 
of  the  seer  penetrated  the  heavens  to  the  throne  of 
God,  he  gazed  on  a  great  multitude  which  no 
man  could  number,  out  of  every  nation  and  tribe 
and  people  and  tongue,  and  knew  that  believers 
had  been  already  bought  for  God  and  invested 
with  a  royalty  even  on  earth  which  no  imperial 
purple  could  confer.  ^ 

But  the  language  of  religion  is  often  inadequate 
to  its  feeling.     In  the  church  at  Rome  at  the  end 

'  Ep.  ad  Diognet.,  vi,  i.  »  Apology,  xvi. 

3  Rev.  vii,  9;  v,  9,  10. 


76         Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

of  the  first  century  Jesus  is  still  the  "beloved 
Servant,"^  and  the  prayer  runs,  "Let  all  nations 
know  that  thou  art  God  alone,  and  that  Jesus 
Christ  is  thy  Servant."  The  Christian  possesses 
"one  God,  one  Christ,  and  one  spirit  of  grace"; 
God  is  the  "Father  and  Creator  of  the  whole 
world,"  its  "Demiurge  and  Master,"  who  has 
ordained  all  things  in  peace  and  concord,  free 
from  wrath  towards  all  his  creatures.^  The 
Shepherd  bids  Hermas  believe  that  God  is  One, 
Creator  and  Perfecter  of  all  things,  who  brought 
all  things  into  being  out  of  what  was  not.^  This 
is  in  fact  the  speech  of  the  higher  Judaism,  in 
contact  with  the  philosophy  of  Greece.''  The 
argument  from  the  order  of  the  universe  to  the 
unity  of  God  was  quite  familiar  in  the  schools; 
and  the  wonders  of  Providence  called  forth  from 
Epictetus  an  impassioned  summons  to  join  him  in 
singing  hymns  of  praise.^  The  place  of  Christ 
in  this  mode  of  thought  was  undefined.  He  has 
been  sent  forth  as  Saviour  and  Prince  of  incorrup- 
tion  by  the  "only  God  invisible,  the  Father  of 
truth"  ^;  but  just  as  the  Angel  of  Repentance  tells 

'  I  Clem.,  lix,  I,  as  in  Acts  iii,  13,  26;  iv,  27,  The  same  title 
is  used  in  the  Teaching  of  the  Twelve  Apostles,  ix-x,  and  in  the 
Letter  to  Diognetus,  viii-ix. 

^  I  Clem.,  xix,  xx,  xxxiii.  3  Shepherd,  Mand.  i. 

4  Cp.  Plato  in  the  Timcsus,  "the  Father  and  Maker  of  all  this 
universe,"  p.  28,  "the  Father  and  Creator,"  p.  37;  Philo,  De  Vit. 
Contempl.,  xi,  "the  Father  and  Creator  of  the  Universe,"  and  so 
often. 

s  Arrian,  I,  xvi.  '  2  Clem.,  xx,  5. 


The  Person  and  Work  of  the  Saviour  11 

Hermas  that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the  Son  of  God, 
so  does  the  homiUst  (designated  as  2  Clement) 
declare  that  the  Spirit  is  Christ.'  No  such 
vagueness  marks  the  thought  of  Ignatius  of 
Antioch.  He  may  indeed  use  salutations  of  the 
Pauline  type,  and  greet  the  Philadelphians  as  the 
"Church  of  God  the  Father  and  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ " ;  but  more  august  titles  flow  naturally  from 
his  thought,  and  to  Rome  he  writes  of  "the  Most 
High  Father  and  of  Jesus  Christ  his  only  Son  .  .  . 
our  God."  The  ardour  of  faith  breaks  out  in 
the  contemplation  of  his  wondrous  birth,  "our 
God  Jesus  the  Christ  was  conceived  by  Mary"; 
it  is  as  easy  for  him  to  speak  of  "God's  bread" 
and  "God's  blood"  as  of  "God's  kingdom"  or 
"God's  will.'"  That  he  was  truly  born,  that  he 
ate  and  drank,  that  he  was  truly  crucified  under 
Pontius  Pilate,  that  his  death  was  witnessed  by 
the  dwellers  in  heaven,  on  earth,  and  beneath 
the  earth,  and  that  he  was  truly  raised  from  the 
dead,  were  the  indispensable  facts  for  salva- 
tion. ^  The  Eternal  Father  who  was  invisible 
was  also  unheard;  but  out  of  the  Silence  came 
forth  his  Word,  and  Christ  was  the  divine  Speech 
of  God  to  man."!  So  complete  was  his  identi- 
fication with  the  historic  descendant  of  David 
that  he  could  designate   him   as  "begotten  and 

'Hermas,  Shepherd,  Simil.  IX,  i,  i;  2  Clem.,  xiv,  4;  cp.  Lake, 
Stewardship  of  the  Faith,  p.  145. 

"  Ephes.  xviii,  2;  Rom.  vii,  3;  Ephes.  i,  i. 

3  Trail.,  ix;  cp.  Smyrn.,  i.  *  Magues.,  viii,  2. 


78         Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

unbegotten,  God  in  man,  .  .  .  Jesus   Christ   our 
Lord."^ 

The  stress  which  Ignatius  laid  on  the  incidents 
of  Christ's  earthly  Hfe  was  directed  against  an 
early  form  of  heresy  which  denied  that  he  had  come 
"in  the  flesh."  It  was  already  denounced  in  the 
letters  ascribed  in  a  later  generation  to  "John,  "^ 
and  it  implied  that  Jesus  had  only  worn  the  sem- 
blance of  a  human  person ;  his  body  was  an  appear- 
ance, not  a  reality.  This  view  belonged  to  a  type 
of  doctrine  commonly  designated  by  the  epithet 
"Gnostic,"  which  spread  in  numerous  sects  from 
East  to  West,  and  gravely  threatened  the  unit}?-  of 
Church  teaching  and  life.  ^  They,  too,  sought  the 
deliverance  of  the  soul  which  they  saw  entangled 
in  the  world  of  matter;  they,  too,  found  in  Christ 
a  Saviour  or  Redeemer  who  had  descended  to 
earth  to  show  the  initiated  the  way  of  salvation. 
They  had  their  holy  rites,  their  sacraments,  strange 
baptisms  and  unctions,  their  bridal  chamber, 
their  consecrated  food  and  drink.  They  had  their 
meeting-places  and  their  books,  their  grades  of 
spiritual  rank,  their  leaders  and  teachers,  and 
they  constantly  tended  to  split  up  into  new  sects. 

'  Ephes.  vii.  On  the  theological  difficulty  involved  in  the 
term  a-yivvr)Tos  see  Professor  Bethune-Baker,  Introduction  to  the 
Early  History  of  Christian  Doctrine  (1903),  p.  122'.  Ignatius 
does  not  use  the  Johannine  term  /JMvoyev^s, 

^  I  John  iv,  2-3 ;  2  John,  7. 

3  See  Lect.  V.  The  particular  view  that  Christ  only  wore  a 
seeming  body  is  known  as  Docetism.  An  analogous  belief  appears 
in  Buddhism  in  the  third  century  B.C. 


The  Person  and  Work  of  the  Saviour  79 

Among  these  teachers  in  the  middle  of  the  second 
century  was  Marcion.  He  did  not,  indeed,  claim 
the  possession  of  a  secret  gnosis  or  "knowledge," 
for  his  watchword  was  faith;  and  on  this  ground 
Harnack  declines  to  reckon  him  among  the 
Gnostics,  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  term.'  He 
claimed  to  be  a  Christian ;  he  founded  his  teaching 
upon  Christian  Scriptures^  without  alleging  the 
support  of  private  tradition.  But  he  is  described 
as  a  disciple  of  the  Gnostic  Cerdo;  he  was  a 
dualist  in  his  interpretation  of  the  world ;  like  all 
Gnostics  he  held  the  Docetic  view  of  Christ's 
body;  and  the  austerities  which  he  practised 
himself  and  demanded  of  his  followers  connected 
him  with  the  extreme  ascetic  wing  of  the  general 
movement. 

Marcion  was  a  wealthy  shipbuilder  of  Sinope 
on  the  Black  Sea.  Sometime  after  the  year 
139  A. D.  he  came  to  Rome,  and  joined  the  Church, 
making  a  generous  contribution  to  its  funds.  He 
did  not  succeed  in  winning  over  the  leaders  to  his 
views,  and  about  144  he  either  left  it  or  was  put 
out,  the  authorities  honourably  restoring  his 
donation.  Christianity  as  he  saw  it  in  the 
imperial  city  was  secularized  and  corrupted;  he 
claimed  to  restore  it  to  its  original  purity,  and 
bring  it  back  to  the  true  religion  of  Jesus  and 

» History  of  Dogma,  i,  p.  266. 

'  The  Gospel  according  to  Luke,  and  ten  Epistles  of  Paul. 
This  selection  of  an  authoritative  group  as  a  stand;;rd  of  faith 
prepared  the  way  for  a  New  Testament  "Canon"  beside  the  Old. 


8o         Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

Paul.  None  of  his  own  works  have  survived, 
but  one  after  another  of  the  great  Church  writers 
strove  to  meet  him  in  argument.  Justin  speaks 
of  him  as  a  contemporary  whose  teaching  has 
been  spread  by  demons  among  every  race.^  It 
proved  curiously  attractive.  He  himself  travelled 
widely  to  diffuse  it.  The  earliest  known  inscription 
on  any  church-building  is  found  in  a  Syrian  village 
on  a  stone  bearing  the  date  318,  "Synagogue  of 
the  Marcionists."  At  the  end  of  the  fourth 
century  his  followers  were  still  active  in  Rome  and 
Italy,  Egypt,  Palestine,  Syria,  Arabia,  and  even 
Persia. 

Unlike  the  speculative  Gnostic  metaphysicians 
Marcion  was  not  concerned  with  the  transition 
from  the  absolute  simplicity  of  the  Divine  Being 
to  the  complex  world  of  our  experience.  He 
interposed  no  chain  of  aeons  or  emanations  between 
the  ultimate  Unity  and  the  material  scene.  He 
was  a  biblical  dualist,  discovering  a  series  of 
contrasts  between  the  God  of  the  Old  Testament, 
stern,  retributive,  vengeful,  and  the  God  of  the 
New,  revealed  by  Jesus  and  taught  by  Paul,  full 
of  righteousness  and  love.  The  former,  the 
God  of  the  Jews,  was  also  the  Creator  or  Demiurge ; 
from  him  came  the  universe  and  the  Mosaic  law; 
he  was  the  Deity  of  a  particular  people;  what  his 
relation  was  ontologically  to  the  Father  disclosed 
by  Jesus,  the  God  of  all  mankind,  Marcion  seems 
never    to    have    explained.     He    accepted    them 

'  I  Apol.,  xxvi;  cp.  Iviii. 


The  Person  and  Work  of  the  Saviour  8i 

both  on  the  authority  of  Scripture,  and  In  a 
famous  work  entitled  the  "Antitheses"  or  "Con- 
trasts" he  arrayed  a  series  of  oppositions  between 
the  rehgion  of  the  Law  on  the  one  side  and  that  of 
the  Gospel  on  the  other. '  If  the  Law  demanded 
an  eye  for  an  eye  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth  (which 
lawyer  TertulUan  defended  as  a  provision  for 
restraining  violence  rather  than  a  permission  for 
mutual  injury),^  the  Gospel  forbade  it;  if  the 
God  of  the  Old  Testament  rained  fire  from  heaven 
on  Elijah's  foes,  Jesus  would  not  suffer  his  disciples 
to  invoke  such  aid.  Marcion  made  no  attempt 
like  Philo  to  save  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  for  devout 
use  by  allegorical  interpretation,  still  less  could 
he  anticipate  Augustine's  great  conception  of  the 
eruditio  of  mankind  by  progressive  revelation. 
To  him  the  books  of  the  Pentateuch  meant  just 
what  they  said,  and  a  lofty  and  earnest  moral 
sense  revolted  against  it.  The  good  God  then 
sent  down  his  Son,  whom  Marcion  seems  to  have 
regarded  as  a  manifestation  of  himself.  The  only 
Gospel  which  Marcion  accepted  was  that  accord- 
ing to  Luke.  He  excised  the  birth-stories,  the 
account  of  John's  ministry  and  the  baptism  of 
Jesus,'  and  began  abruptly,  "In  the  fifteenth  year 
of  Tiberius  God  came   down  [i.e.  from  heaven] 

'  It  is  probable  that  this  work  is  intended  in  i  Tim.  vi,  20 
(a  possible  addition  to  the  main  letter),  where  Timothy  is  ex- 
horted to  "guard  the  deposit"  and  turn  away  from  "the  Antithe- 
ses of  the  Gnosis  falsely  so  called." 

'^  Adv.  Marc,  ii,  18. 
6 


S2        Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

to  Capernaum."^  Christ's  whole  career  was 
accordingly  conceived  upon  Docetic  lines.  Such 
a  being  had  no  need  of  birth,  he  appeared  when 
the  time  was  ripe  in  full-grown  manhood.  "Who 
is  my  mother?"  he  asked,  proving  that  he  owned 
no  human  origin.^  Did  the  risen  Jesus  say,  "A 
spirit  hath  not  flesh  and  bones  as  ye  see  me  have, " 
the  words  only  meant,  "A  spirit  has  no  flesh  and 
bones,  and  you  see  that  I  have  them  only  as  a 
spirit  has."  3 

Such  teaching  endangered  the  whole  faith.  A 
phantom  Christ  who  never  really  suffered  could 
be  no  true  Redeemer.  The  error  was  deadly; 
the  entire  conception  of  salvation  was  under- 
mined. To  guard  the  historic  reality  became  an 
urgent  necessity,  and  the  Church  of  Rome  began 
to  organize  its  defence.  The  convert  at  baptism 
was  "washed,"  says  Justin,  "in  the  name  of 
God,  the  Father  and  Lord  of  the  universe,  and  of 
our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit."" 
Such  was  already  the  expansion  of  the  baptismal 
formula  from  its  simplest  type,  "in  the  name  of 
Jesus  Christ."  5  To  identify  Jesus  Christ,  it 
would  seem,  the  historic  detail  "crucified  under 

^  Combining  Luke  iii,  i,  and  iv,  31,  Tert.,  Adv.  Marc,  iv,  7, 
reading  Deum  for  eum;  cp.  Kruger,  Das  Dogma  der  Dreieinigkeit 

(1905),  P-  36. 

="  Tert.,  ibid.,  iv,  19.  s  Tert.,  ibid.,  iv,  43. 

"  I  Apol.,  Ixi. 

^Acts  ii,  38;  viii,  16;  x,  48;  xix,  5.  The  difference  compared 
with  Matt,  xxviii,  19,  and  Teaching  of  the  Twelve  Apostles,  vii,  is 
noteworthy. 


The  Person  and  Work  of  the  Saviour  83 

Pontius  Pilate"  was  added,  while  the  Holy  Spirit 
was  described  as  having  ' '  foretold  all  things  about 
Jesus  through  the  prophets . ' '  Here  is  the  tendency 
to  define  in  exposition.  Justin  mentions  no  creed 
demanded  from  the  candidate.  But  a  generation 
later  Irenseus  knows  a  "Rule  of  Truth,"'  and 
Tertullian  can  recite  a  "Rule  of  Faith, "^  and 
from  their  statements  a  primitive  Roman  confes- 
sion may  be  inferred : 

I  believe  in  God  the  Father  Almighty:  and  in  Jesus 
Christ  his  Son,  born  of  the  Virgin  A'lary,  crucified 
under  Pontius  Pilate  and  buried,  the  third  day  he 
rose  from  the  dead,  he  ascended  into  the  heavens, 
sitteth  at  the  right  hand  of  the  Father,  whence  he 
shall  come  to  judge  the  living  and  the  dead:  and  in 
the  Holy  Spirit,  and  the  resurrection  of  the  flesh. ^ 

Out  of  what  precise  liturgical  formulae  this 
Credo  was  compiled  we  need  not  enquire.  The 
stress  falls  on  the  human  Hfe  rather  than  the 
divine  nature  of  the  Son.  He  is,  indeed,  in  one 
form  designated  monogenes,  "only"  or  "unique."'* 

'  Adv.  Har.,  I,  ix,  4,  about  185  a.d.  »  De  Virg.  Velandis,  i. 

3  Cp.  McGiffcrt,  The  Apostles'  Creed  (1902),  p.  100,  and 
Kniger,  Das  Dogma  der  Dreieinigkeit,  pp.  41-70,  who  gives  the 
second  article  in  this  form:  "and  in  Jesus  Christ,  his  only 
Son,  our  Lord,  who  was  born  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  Mary 
the  Virgin,  crucified  under  Pontius  Pilate,  buried,  and  on  the 
third  day  risen  from  the  dead,  carried  up  into  heaven  and  sitting 
at  the  right  hand  of  the  Father,  from  thence  he  will  come  to 
judge  the  living  and  the  dead"  (p.  53). 

■*  It  is  used,  for  instance,  of  the  "only  son"  of  the  widow  of 
Nain,  Luke   vii,   12.      In  the  Orphic  theology  the  epithet  is 


84        Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

But  he  is  described  neither  as  "Saviour"  nor  as 
"Word";  not  even  the  title  "our  Lord"  is  added 
to  his  name;  the  name  "Son"  is  enough  to  indi- 
cate his  heavenly  rank;  was  it  not  to  him  that 
God  said,  "Let  us  make  man  after  our  image"?' 
Then  he  was  spirit,  incapable  of  being  seen  by- 
mortal  eyes ;  only  by  his  coming  in  the  flesh  could 
men  behold  him  and  be  saved.  ^  The  reaHty  of 
his  mortal  life,  therefore,  and  of  his  death,  attested 
by  his  burial,  was  of  fundamental  importance, 
just  as  the  resurrection  and  ascension  were  needed 
to  prove  his  immortality. 

The  "Rule  of  Truth,"  therefore,  designed  for 
the  protection  of  the  believer  against  Gnostic 
error,  was  not  concerned  with  a  definition  of  the 
nature  of  the  Son  in  relation  to  the  Godhead, 
whose  designation  "Father  Almighty"  indicated 
his  character  as  "Father  and  Creator  of  the 
world."  But  the  exponents  of  Christian  teaching 
could  not  ignore  this  aspect  of  the  Son's  being. 
The  defence  of  the  faith  enlisted  many  of  the 
ablest  writers  in  the  Church  for  three  hundred 
years,  down  to  the  noblest  of  all  apologies,  the 
treatise  on  the  "City  of  God"  by  St.  Augustine. ^ 
It  had,  in  fact,  to  meet  attacks  from  many  sides. 

applied  to  Athena  and  Demeter.  The  second  ason  in  the  Ogdoad 
of  the  Valentinian  Gnostics  also  bore  the  title,  derived  per- 
haps from  John  i,  i8.  Cp.  Wobbermin,  Religions geschichtliche 
Studien  (1896),  p.  1142. 

'  Ep.  Barnab.,  vi,  12;  cp.  v,  5.  '  Ibid.,  v,  10;  2  Clem.,  ix,  5. 

3  Its  composition  extended  over  several  years,  between  413 
and  426. 


The  Person  and  Work  of  the  Saviour  85 

Ignorance  and  its  offspring  ill-will  exposed  it  to 
base  charges  of  immorality  and  excess;  and  the 
champion  of  the  faith  must  vindicate  the  purity 
of  believers'  lives,  he  must  display  their  character 
as  good  citizens,  their  readiness  to  fulfil  civic  duty, 
and  discharge  the  offices  of  brotherly  love.  Against 
the  popular  religions  with  their  odious  tales  of  the 
gods,  their  shameless  displays  in  the  theatres, 
their  cruel  sacrifices  and  obscene  rites,  he  must 
exalt  the  sublimity  of  the  worship  of  One  God. 
To  the  diversities  of  philosophy  he  must  present 
the  unity  of  revelation  from  the  first  days  of 
creation  till  its  culmination  in  the  person  of 
Christ.  The  Jew  must  be  convinced  that  the 
predictions  of  his  prophets  were  fulfilled  in  Jesus. 
The  weapons  of  the  heretic  must  be  wrested  from 
him,  and  he  must  be  convicted  of  vain  imagi- 
nations and  the  mishandling  of  the  sacred  records. 
None  of  these  aims  could  be  achieved  independ- 
ently of  Christ.  His  person  was,  of  necessity,  the 
central  theme.  But  the  arguments  might  be 
conducted  along  different  lines,  and  the  group  of 
Apologists,  as  modem  students  have  designated 
them,  '■  sought  to  exhibit  Christianity  as  a  rational 
scheme  of  thought  and  life. 

The  instrument  employed  for  this  purpose 
was  the  philosophical  conception  of  the  Logos, 
at  once  the  inner  Reason  and  the  outer  Word 
(or  utterance)  of  God.  Philo  of  Alexandria  had 
applied  it  in  expounding  the  hidden  truths  of  the 

I  See  Note  C,  p.  131. 


86        Phases  of  Early  Christianity" 

sacred  laws  of  Israel  alike  to  his  own  co-reli- 
gionists and  to  the  cultivated  Greek.  ^  Three 
centuries  before,  the  Stoic  Cleanthes  had  sung 
of  Zeus  who  guided  all  things  by  law,  and 
harmonized  good  with  evil  in  one  whole  so 
that  there  was  one  Logos  for  all  things  ever- 
lastingly. Such  Law,  such  Reason,  were  uni- 
versal^; they  belonged  to  the  very  nature  of 
God  himself,  and  could  not  be  in  any  way 
detached  from  his  essential  Being.  But  in  the 
first  century  of  our  era  the  conception  was 
presented  in  new  forms.  The  older  Stoicism 
practically  identified  God,  the  Logos,  and  the 
world;  they  were  conterminous  with  each  other 
and  intrinsically  the  same,  viewed  under  different 
aspects.  In  accommodating  itself  to  the  popular 
theology  Stoic  thought  made  fresh  identifications. 
Writing  on  Greek  theology  [in  the  reign  of  Nero] 
the  philosopher  Comutus^  sought  to  interpret  the 
old  mythology  in  the  light  of  more  spiritual  ideas, 
and  portrayed  Hermes,  the  ancient  messenger  or 
herald  of  the  gods,  as  the  Logos  sent  from  heaven 
to  man,  the  agent  of  revelation,  the  medium  of 
intercourse  between  Deity  and  the  children  of 
earth.  We  have  already  seen  how  Justin  appeals 
to  this  "Son  of  God"  by  way  of  comparison  with 
the  title  and  function  of  Christ.  In  the  Hermetic 
literature,  which  is  now  known  to  have  Egyptian 

'  Cp.  Lect.  V. 

^  The  epithet  kolvSs  is  applied  to  both. 

3  According  to  the  usual  view  of  the  '  EWtj  vlkt]  Qeo\oy[a. 


The  Person  and  Work  of  the  Saviour  87 

theological  ideas  behind  it, '  and  emerges  into  view 
about  the  end  of  the  first  century,  the  radiant 
Logos  issues  out  of  Mind,  as  "Son  of  God-''^" 
"Know,"  says  the  Man-Shepherd,  "that  what 
sees  and  hears  in  thee  is  the  Lord's  Logos,  but 
Mind  is  God  the  Father."  When  the  disciple 
enquires,  "Whence  have  Nature's  elements  their 
being?"  the  answer  is — "From  God's  will,  which 
received  the  Logos,  and  after  contemplating  the 
beautiful  world  [i.e.  the  world  of  ideal  forms] 
imitated  it."^  And  the  concluding  prayer  ad- 
dressed to  "God  the  Father  of  the  universe" 
declares  him  holy  "for  thou  didst  by  Logos  create 
the  things  that  are . "  •*  Philosophy  could  thus  unite 
the  two  aspects  of  the  Logos  in  nature  and  man, 
and  in  the  third  century  Porphyry  could  still  call 
Hermes  the  representative  of  the  Logos  which  ' '  both 
creates  and  interprets  all  things."  ^ 

The  Christian  poet  in  the  Odes  of  Solomon 
touches  on  the  same  themes,  but  with  prophecy 
and  psalm  behind  him  the  "Word"  has  sometimes 
the  more  direct  meaning  of  utterance,  which  many 
critics  are  now  advocating  as  the  true  significance 
of  the  Johannine  phrase,  "In  the  beginning  was 
the  Logos.  "^  From  this  side  he  can  say  that 
"the  mouth  of  the  Lord  is  the  true  Word,  and  the 

'  Cp.  Rcitzenstcin,  ZweiReligionsgeschichtlicheFragen(igoi),ll, 
"  Schopf ungsmythen  und  Logoslehrc";  and  Poimandrcs  (1904). 

»  Poimandres,  §  6.  3  Ibid.,  §  8.  *  Ibid.,  §  31. 

s  Euseb.  PrcEp.  Evang.,  Ill,  xi. 

*Cp.  Loofs,  Wliat  is  the  Truth  about  Jesus  Christ?  (1913). 
p.  188. 


88         Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

door  of  his  light";  and  can  add  that  "the  Most 
High  hath  given  it  to  his  worlds/  which  are  the 
interpreters  of  his  beauty,  the  narrators  of  his 
glory,  the  proclaimers  of  his  counsel,  and  the 
heralds  of  his  thought."'  It  is  the  moral  quahty 
of  the  Word  which  awakes  the  poet's  especial 
reverence,  for  "from  it  came  love  and  concord"; 
that  is  the  secret  of  the  harmony  of  the  worlds 
which  recognize  their  Maker's  hand;  it  should  be 
also  the  rule  of  human  life,  for  ' '  the  dwelHng-place 
of  the  Word  is  man,  and  its  truth  is  love."  ^  But 
it  is  not  without  cosmic  functions  also,  for  it 
searches  out  all  things,  and  while  God  may  rest 
from  his  works,  created  things  know  not  how 
to  stand  or  be  idle,  for  his  hosts  obey  his  Word.  ^ 
And  it  is  finally  impersonated  in  Jesus,  though 
he  is  never  named,  for  at  last  the  poet  breaks 
out: 

His  bounty  begat  me  and  the  thought  of  his  heart, 

And  his  Word  is  with  us  in  all  our  way. 

The  Saviour  who  makes  alive  and  rejects  not  our 
souls. 

The  Man  who  was  humbled,  and  exalted  by  his  right- 
eousness; 

The  Son  of  the  Most  High  appeared  in  the  perfection 
of  his  Father, 

And  light  dawned  from  the  Word  that  was  before 
time  in  him; 

I  Possibly  "his  aeons"  originally,  a  semi-Gnostic  touch. 

»  Odes  of  Solomon,  xii,  3-4. 

3  Ibid.,  xii,  9-1 1.  "  Ibid.,  xvi,  8-15. 


The  Person  and  Work  of  the  Saviour  89 

The  Messiah  is  truly  one,  and  he  was  known  before 

the  foundation  of  the  world, 
That  he  might  save  souls  for  ever  by  the  truth  of 

his  name.' 

Such  were  some  of  the  phases  of  the  Logos 
conceived  as  a  principle  of  Revelation  and  of 
Cosmic  Order.  Now  one  aspect  is  prominent 
in  the  Apologists,  and  now  the  other.  Against 
the  popular  idolatries  their  argument  is  not 
without  parallel  in  the  higher  Judaism  and  the 
best  teachings  of  philosophy.  The  second  century 
had  its  preachers  of  monotheism,  in  which  the 
appeal  to  the  order  of  Nature  and  to  reason  and 
conscience  in  man  was  vigorously  emphasized. 
With  monotheism  came  the  hope  of  immortality, 
and  the  yearning  for  spiritual  fellowship  with 
God.  Christianity  proposed  to  define  and  estab- 
lish these  trusts  more  firmly  by  planting  them 
on  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ.  Here  was  a  religion 
historically  guaranteed  by  the  appearance  of  the 
Son  of  God  in  human  form.  Here  was  the  future 
secured  by  the  promise  of  the  resurrection,  which 
provided  incorruption  for  the  whole  being,  and 
included  body  as  well  as  soul.^  The  stress 
may  vary  on  different  elements  of  the  faith; 
in  argument  with  the  Jew  Trypho  Justin 
necessarily  dwells  on  what  separates  the  Church 
from  the  Synagogue;  to  the  Roman  rulers  and 
people   he    offers    the    completion    in    Christ    of 

'  Odes  of  Solomon,  xli,  11-15.  '  Cp.  Lect.  I,  p.  33. 


90         Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

what    had  been    only   imperfectly    realized    by 
philosophy. 

The  Apologies  are  not  sermons  to  believers, 
they  are  addressed  to  the  common  educated 
intelligence  of  the  unconverted.^  They  only 
threaten  incidentally;  their  aim  is  to  persuade. 
In  the  background  for  the  most  part  lie  the  beliefs 
and  usages  of  the  Church,  warnings  of  judgment 
and  torments  of  hell.  Their  main  purpose  is  to 
supply  a  rational  explanation  of  the  worship  of  a 
crucified  man.  No  mighty  spirit  reveals  the 
secrets  of  impassioned  experience  like  Paul;  no 
mystical  union  with  a  Christ  in  heaven  is  presented 
as  the  goal  of  faith.  The  idealism  with  which 
Ignatius  beheld  in  the  Bishop  and  his  Presbyters 
a  reproduction  of  the  presidency  of  God  and  the 
council  of  the  Apostles^  never  brightens  their 
descriptions  of  the  Christian  life;  the  bare  facts 
themselves  must  suffice.  The  Gnostic  challenge 
to  a  fallen  nature,  to  the  sense  of  sin  and  the  need 
of  a  Redeemer,  is  replaced  by  assumptions  of  the 
universality  of  reason  and  vindications  of  the 
freedom  of  the  will.  Justin,  for  instance,  was 
convinced  that  he  had  on  his  side  the  supreme 
representative  of  all  Hellenic  wisdom.  Socrates 
had  striven  to  bring  the  truth  to  light,  and  deliver 
men  from  the  demons,  who  in  revenge  contrived 
to  bring  about  his  death.  As  the  Logos  availed 
among  the  Greeks  to  condemn  these  things  through 
Socrates,    so   among   the   barbarians   they   were 

'  Cp.  Note  C,  p.  131.  ^Magnes.,  vi,  I. 


The  Person  and  Work  of  the  Saviour  91 

condemned  by  the  Logos  himself,  who  took  shape 
and  became  man,  and  was  called  Jesus  Christ.' 
Hatred  and  death  were,  indeed,  the  lot  of  all  who 
strove  to  live  reasonably  with  the  aid  of  the  seed 
of  the  Logos  implanted  in  every  race  of  men.  Such 
was  Heracleitus  of  old,  and  among  Justin's  own  con- 
temporaries Musonius.  '^  But  while  Socrates  could 
only  exhort  men  to  become  acquainted  with  the 
God  unknown  to  them  by  the  investigations  of 
reason,  and  alleged  that  "it  is  neither  easy  to  find 
the  Maker  and  Father  of  all,  nor  having  found 
him  is  it  safe  to  declare  him  to  all,  "^  Christ  did 
both.  No  one,  says  Justin  shrewdly,  trusted  Soc- 
rates enough  to  die  for  him,  but  Christ  was  accepted 
not  only  by  philosophers  and  scholars  but  by  work- 
ing folk  and  common  people,  who  despised  alike 
glory  and  fear  and  death.  For  Christ  was  a  Power 
of  the  ineffable  Father,  and  not  the  mere  instru- 
ment of  human  Reason.  "•  Christianity,  then,  de- 
pends directly  upon  Revelation. 

This  is  its  great  paradox.  The  revealing  Logos 
appeared  in  Jesus  of  Nazareth  in  human  form.s 
Other  men  might  possess  its  seed,  implanted  in 
every  race  of  mankind;  Christians  enjoyed  the 
knowledge  and  contemplation  of  the  entire  Word, 
which  is  Christ.^  This  absolute  character  of  the 
Logos  in  Christ  is  emphasized  by  Justin  again  and 
again.  True,  he  could  affirm  that  whatever 
things  had  been  rightly  said  among  all  men  were 

»  I  Apol.,  V.  '2  ApoL,  v-iii.  3  TimcEus,  28  c. 

J  2  Apol.,  X.       *  I  ApoL,  V,  X670X  /M>p(pud€ls.       6  2  ApoL,  viii. 


92         Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

the  property  of  the  Christians.^  But  the  elder 
lawgivers  and  philosophers  even  in  what  they 
taught  aright  only  beheld  some  part  of  the  Logos, 
they  did  not  know  the  whole  of  it,  which  is  Christ. 
This  was  no  accidental  superiority;  it  was  a  neces- 
sity of  Revelation  itself.  To  be  complete  it  must 
be  made  by  one  who  possessed  the  entire  Logos. 
Athenagoras  lays  down  the  same  rule.  Under 
the  divine  afflatus  poets  and  philosophers  sought  to 
discover  God.  It  was  a  conjectural  process,  and 
it  did  not  succeed  because  they  sought  to  learn 
about  God,  not  from  God,  but  each  one  from 
himself.^  Christians  had  the  witness  of  the 
prophets  under  the  guidance  of  God's  Spirit;  and 
this  culminated  in  Christ  who  was  the  Logos  of 
the  Father,  and  in  the  capacity  of  Son  is  formally 
styled  God  by  Athenagoras  next  to  the  Father.  ^ 
This  Logos  was  of  course  in  existence  before 
the  Incarnation.  In  general  terms  he  is  the 
"first-bom  of  God.""*  As  the  instrument  or 
agent  of  creation  he  was  begotten  before  it,  and 
in  that  function  he  is  not  only  the  antecedent 
Reason,  he  is  the  actual  Power,  the  living  force  of 
its  constitution,  s  Like  Wisdom  of  whom  it  was 
said  "the  Lord  made  me  in  the  beginning  of  his 
ways,  "^  the  Logos  issued  from  the  Father  to  be 
the   intellectual   idea   and   the   working   energy 

^  2  ApoL,  jdii.  *  Legatio,  vii. 

3  Ihid.,  x;  or  perhaps  better,  "the  Divine  Son." 
^  Justin,  I  ApoL,  xlvi.  ^Ibid.,  2  ApoL,  vi;  i  i4/»oZ,,xxiii. 

*  Prov.  viii,  22 ;  Athenagoras,  Leg.,  x. 


The  Person  and  Work  of  the  Saviour  93 

which  converted  unorganized  matter  into  an 
orderly  universe.  Justin  is  not  afraid  to  empha- 
size its  distinctness;  Tatian  knows  that  it  springs 
forth  "by  division"';  and  Theophilus  expresses 
the  separation  by  the  coarsest  metaphor: — 
"God  having  his  own  Logos  within,^  in  his  own 
bowels,  begat  him,  belching  him  forth  along 
with  his  own  Wisdom  before  all  things."  The 
Logos  is  thus  the  product  of  an  act  of  the  Father's 
will,  3  just  as  we  beget  speech  (or  Word)  by  utter- 
ance, but  do  not  diminish  the  inner  Reason  which 
prompted  it."  The  Father's  Being  is  thus  in  no 
way  divided;  the  Son  is  indeed  "other"  numeri- 
cally but  not  Yvw^Tl.  ^^  purpose  or  will^;  fire  can 
be  kindled  from  fire,  and  the  second  is  different 
from  the  jEirst  which  still  burns  and  can  set  yet 
more  aHght.^  Athenagoras  is  more  precise.  He 
dwells  on  the  oneness  of  the  Son  in  the  Father 
and  the  Father  in  the  Son;  and  he  contrasts  the 
life  of  sense  whose  motto  is,  ' '  Let  us  eat  and  drink 
for  tomorrow  we  die,"  with  that  of  the  behever 
who  is  guided  to  the  future  by  the  knowledge  of 
God,  his  Logos,  and  the  Spirit,  the  oneness  and 
the  distinction  of  the  Three.  ^  It  is  the  first  real 
assertion  of  the  Unity  of  the  holy  Three  to  which, 
under  the  terms  God,  Word,  and  Wisdom,  The- 
ophilus gave  the  name  of  Trias.  ^ 

^  Tatian,  Cohortatio,  v,  kotA  nepLO-fjiv. 

'  The  X670S  ivdidderos,  Ad  Autolyc,  II,  X. 

3  Justin,  I  ApoL,  xxi.  ^  Dial.,  l>ii.  ^  Ibid.,  Ivi,  II. 

^  Dial.,  cxxviii.  ^  Legal.,  xii.  *  Ad  Autolyc,  II,  xv. 


94        Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

The  argument  is  so  far  ontological.  It  enters 
the  field  of  history  with  an  appeal  to  the  Scriptures 
of  the  Old  Testament  on  the  one  hand  and  the 
Gospels  on  the  other.  Justin  does  not  specify 
the  latter  by  name.  He  describes  them  as  the 
"Recollections  of  the  Apostles  which  we  call 
Gospels."  His  quotations  include  long  extracts 
from  Matthew  and  Luke;  he  was  apparently 
acquainted  with  Mark;  whether  he  knew  the 
fourth  Gospel  has  been  seriously  questioned. 
He  nowhere  expressly  cites  it  in  aid  of  his  interpre- 
tation of  the  person  of  Christ,  and  he  invokes 
no  support  from  it  for  his  doctrine  of  the  Logos. 
One  solitary  passage  points  to  it,  ^  and  it  is  difficult 
to  suppose  that  the  Gospel  is  not  there  in  the 
background;  but  it  is  impossible  to  prove  that 
the  words  in  question  might  not  have  been  known 
to  Justin  through  some  other  channel  of  oral 
teaching  or  communicated  anecdote.  The  events 
of  the  Teacher's  life  fulfil  the  predictions  of  Law 
and  Prophecy  and  Psalm.  These,  it  is  assumed, 
are  the  work  of  the  prophetic  Spirit.*  The 
inspiration  of  the  Old  Testament  is  taken  for 
granted.  Its  superiority  is  occasionally  vindicated 
on  the  ground  of  its  antiquity,  and  it  is  even 
alleged  to  be  the  fountain-head  of  Greek  wisdom. 
But  in  reaUty  the  claims  of  the  prophets  and  of 
Jesus  support  each  other;  on  the  one  hand  predic- 
tion, on  the  other  fulfilment ;  and  the  exactness  of 

'  I  ApoL,  Ixi. 

'  This  is  the  character  of  the  Spirit  in  Justin. 


The  Person  and  Work  of  the  Saviour  95 

the  conformity  proves  both  divine.  The  methods 
of  historical  interpretation  were  then  unknown; 
for  the  modern  student  Justin's  ingenuity  is 
spent  in  vain. 

What,  then,  of  the  person  of  Jesus  in  whom  the 
Logos  thus  took  human  shape?  The  union  of 
the  divine  Word  with  the  Man  of  Nazareth  is 
never  formally  explained ;  it  was  too  easy  to  point 
to  Gentile  analogies  among  the  "sons  of  Zeus." 
The  Logos,  who  is  the  "only  Son,"'  is  said  to 
have  been  begotten  in  a  peculiar  manner  as  Word 
and  Power  by  God,  and  afterwards  to  have 
become  man  through  the  Virgin.  On  his  actual 
humanity  Justin  firmly  takes  his  stand.  His 
bodily  experiences  were  all  perfectly  real.  Justin 
will  yield  nothing  to  the  Docetism  of  the  Gnostics. 
The  prayer  "Not  as  I  will  but  as  thou  wilt" 
showed  that  Jesus  truly  suffered.  When  he 
cried,  "Father,  if  it  be  possible,  let  this  cup  pass,  " 
we  perceive  that  the  Father  intended  the  Son  to 
meet  this  trial  for  our  sakes,  and  we  may  not 
affirm  that  he  did  not  feel  what  was  happening 
to  him.^  How  the  two  natures  were  thus  com- 
bined Justin  nowhere  clearly  specifies.  The  Logos 
occupied  an  actual  body  which  was  provided 
also  with  a  human  soul.  ^     The  two  beings  inhabit 

^  MonogenSs,  not  on  the  ground  of  John  i,  i8,  but  of  the  Greek 
of  Psalm  xxii,  20;  Justin,  Dial.,  cv. 

'  Dial.,  ciii. 

3  2  Apol.,  X.  That  the  term  Psychfi  is  used  here  in  the  higher 
Greek  sense  may  be  inferred  from  the  passage  quoted  in  Lect. 
I,  P-  33^- 


96        Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

the  same  physical  person;  they  apparently  exist 
side  by  side  in  simple  contiguity,  each  with  its 
own  capacities  and  powers.  In  what  sense  the 
Logos  was  still  the  Power  of  cosmic  activity, 
remains  a  mystery;  the  problem  has  not  yet 
arisen.  It  is  not  solved  even  at  death.  Upon 
the  cross  Jesus  commended  his  spirit  to  God,^ 
a  new  term  which  must  be  equated  with  the 
"soul."  Whither,  then,  did  it  depart?  When 
"the  Lord  God"  descended  into  the  abodes  of  the 
dead  Israel  to  announce  salvation  to  the  generations 
of  the  past,  ^  did  the  human  soul  accompany  the 
divine  Son,  and,  if  so,  how  was  their  union  main- 
tained when  the  bond  of  flesh  had  been  dissolved? 
Here  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Two  Natures  in  its  most 
naked  form.  It  will  be  the  work  of  three  centuries 
to  embody  it  in  theological  terminology  as  the 
deliberate  judgment  of  the  Church. 

To  this  process  the  most  important  contribu- 
tions were  made  as  the  second  century  ran  out  by 
Irenseus  of  Lyons  and  Tertullian  of  Carthage.^ 
The  first  was  the  profoundest  theologian  of  his 
age;  the  second  coined  much  of  the  language  in 
which  the  new  ideas  were  expressed. 

Irenseus  came  to  the  West  from  Asia  Minor. 
The  place  and  date  of  his  birth  are  alike  unknown "; 

» Dial.,  Iv,  citing  Luke  xxiii,  46. 

'  Dial.,  Ixxii;  cp.  Lect.  I,  p.  36. 

J  On  Clement  of  Alexandria  see  Lect.  V. 

*  He  was  probably  born  about  130  a.d.,  a  little  before  or  after; 
whether  his  parents  were  Christians,  or,  if  not,  how  he  was 
brought  into  the  Church,  we  have  no  information. 


The  Person  and  Work  of  the  Saviour  97 

but  he  was  at  Smyrna  in  his  boyhood,  for  in  a 
letter  written  in  later  life  to  his  early  friend 
Florinus  he  refers  to  his  vivid  impressions  of  the 
aged  Bishop  Polycarp  as  he  sat  in  the  teacher's 
chair,  and  told  how  he  had  known  John  and  the 
others  who  had  seen  the  Lord.^  He  received  the 
ordinary  training  of  a  Greek  youth.  He  could 
cite  Homer  and  Hesiod,  Pindar  and  Plato;  he 
is  imbued  with  the  teachings  of  the  philosophers; 
he  has  shared  the  mystical  aspiration  for  union 
with  God.  He  is  in  Rome  as  a  young  man, 
possibly  (as  has  been  conjectured^)  as  the  com- 
panion of  Polycarp,  who  made  the  journey  in 
his  extreme  old  age  to  discuss  the  difficulty  which 
had  arisen  between  the  Asian  and  the  Roman 
Churches  over  the  celebration  of  the  Christian 
passover  and  the  resurrection  festival.^  Irenaeus 
did  not  return  to  the  East.  He  came  under  the 
influence  of  Justin,  either  as  teacher  or  writer; 
and  finally  went  on  to  Southern  Gaul,  and  up  the 
Rhone  Valley  past  Vienne  to  Lyons.  There  he 
became  presbyter  in  the  Christian  church  under 
Pothinus,  which  numbered  other  emigrants  from 
Asia  Minor  in  its  fold."  After  the  martyrdom 
of  Pothinus  (177  a.d.)  he  was  appointed  Bishop, 
and  devoted  himself  through  laborious  years  to 
the  extension  of  the  Church  and  the  defence  of 

'  Euseb.,  Hist.  EccL,  V,  xx,  5. 

"  By  Dr.  Hitchcock,  Ircnceus  of  Lugdunum  (1914),  p.  2. 
3  Euseb.,  Hist.  EccL,  V,  xxiii.     Probably  in  154-5  a.d. 
1 1n  the  famous  persecution  of  177  a.d.  Attalus  of  Pcrgamus, 
and  Alexander  (a  doctor)  from  Phrygia,  were  among  the  martyrs. 
7 


98         Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

the  faith.  To  the  GaUic  people  he  preached  in 
their  own  Celtic  tongue.  He  met  the  Gnostics 
in  personal  argument,  and  was  long  engaged 
(about  180-185  A.D.)  in  the  composition  of  a 
treatise  against  them  in  Greek.  ^  It  was  widely 
circulated;  a  few  years  later  Tertullian  used  it  in 
Carthage;  in  the  East  it  was  translated  into 
Syriac.  Most  of  his  other  works  have  perished; 
this  remains  (unfortunately  only  in  an  early 
Latin  translation,  with  some  passages  of  the 
original  Greek),  an  inestimable  monument  of  the 
development  of  Christian  theology. 

The  work  is  polemical  in  aim,  and  its  prepara- 
tion was  probably  frequently  interrupted ;  it  lacks 
concentration;  it  is  sometimes  needlessly  diffuse; 
it  contains  frequent  repetitions.  But  it  is  per- 
vaded by  an  intense  conviction  of  the  significance 
of  Christian  salvation.  This  is  the  deep  under- 
tone of  the  whole,  the  pedal  note  enduring  through 
every  variation  of  the  great  theme  of  the  Incar- 
nation. "Why  did  God  become  man?"  is  the 
question.  "That  man  might  become  God"  is 
the  answer.^  The  Apologists  had  not  really 
grappled  with  the  conception  of  redemption. 
They  had  presented  Christianity  as  a  kind  of 
emancipated  Judaism,  supported  on  the  Old 
Testament  Scriptures,  and  universalized  with  the 

^  Euseb.,  Hist.  EccL,  V,  vii,  "the  Refutation  and  Overturning  of 
the  Gnosis  falsely  so-called,"  in  five  books. 

'  Cp.  Lect.  I,  p.  58,  and  below,  p.  127.  Adv.  Hares.,  V,  praef. 
ad  fin. 


The  Person  and  Work  of  the  Saviour  99 

help  of  the  Logos.  The  Gnostics,  on  the  other 
hand,  had  laid  stress  upon  the  fall,  on  the  need  of 
deliverance,  on  the  renewal  or  restoration  of  the 
soul's  true  nature.  They  were  the  heirs  of  the 
Apostle  Paul,  but  they  had  transmuted  their 
inheritance  into  the  most  fantastic  shapes,  whose 
kindred  with  their  progenitor  was  hardly  re- 
cognizable. Irenaeus  brings  back  Paul  into  the 
sphere  of  Church  teaching,  but  it  is  Paul  with  a 
difference.  There  are  no  traces  in  his  pages  of  the 
profound  spiritual  conflict  which  was  the  founda- 
tion of  Paul's  interpretation  of  Christianity. 
He  had  never  served  as  the  bondman  of  the  Law; 
he  had  never  been  arrested  in  one  course  of  action, 
and  started  afresh  upon  another.  The  type  of 
his  experience  approximates  rather  to  the  Johan- 
nine;  freedom  from  sin  comes  through  knowledge 
of  the  truth,  and  truth  is  imparted  through 
Scripture*  and  the  Church. 

Beside  the  First  Three  Gospels  stands  the 
Fourth;  so  well  established  are  they  in  general 
use^  that  he  can  support  their  exclusive  claims 
by  quaint  numerical  analogies,  four  regions  of 
the  world,  four  winds,  four  living  creatures  bearing 
up  the  throne  of  God,  four  covenants  with  the 
human   race.^    The   Evangelists,    says   Irenaeus, 

'  Now  including  our  four  Gospels  and  an  Apostolic  collection. 

'Adv.  Hares.,  Ill,  i,  I. 

3  Ibid.,  Ill,  xi,  8.  The  Greek  of  this  passage  names  the  Deluge, 
Circumcision,  the  Law,  and  the  Gospel,  connected  with  Noah, 
Abraham,  Moses,  and  Christ.  The  Latin  has  Adam,  Noah, 
Moses,  and  the  Gospel. 


100       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

have  all  taught  the  same  truth:  "There  is  one 
God,  Creator  of  heaven  and  earth,  declared  by 
the  Law  and  the  Prophets;  and  one  Christ,  God's 
Son."'  The  interpretation  of  this  teaching  lies 
with  the  Church;  it  is  summed  up,  as  we  have  seen, 
in  the  Rule  of  Truth;  it  is  guaranteed  by  tradition, 
handed  on  by  the  successors  of  the  Apostles,  the 
living  witnesses  of  the  truths  and  blessings  of 
salvation.  ^  The  Rule  of  Truth  did  not,  it  is  true, 
describe  Christ  as  Saviour,  or  define  the  char- 
acter of  his  redeeming  work;  but  it  laid  the  ut- 
most emphasis  upon  the  Incarnation,  and  the 
reaHty  of  his  human  life ;  and  this  was  for  Irenasus 
the  centre  of  God's  purpose  for  man.  Employing 
the  Logos  Christology,  he  uses  it  for  much  more 
than  the  explanation  of  Revelation  in  the  prophets. 
Christ's  function  was  wider  than  that  of  completing 
the  imperfect  witness  of  earlier  days;  he  was 
himself  infinitely  greater  than  the  fulness  of  that 
which  Scripture  already  contained  partially. 
Doubtless  he  disclosed  truths  about  God  unreaHzed 
before;  but  his  teaching  function  in  no  way 
exhausted  his  significance;  he  stands,  as  Paul  had 
placed  him,  as  the  head  of  a  new  humanity  which 
is  to  be  made  divine;  and  the  presentation  of  his 
nature  is  really  conditioned  by  the  purpose  of  his 
work.  The  Redeemer  cannot  confer  what  he 
does  not  possess.  If  he  is  to  bestow  im- 
mortaHty  on  others,  it  must  first  belong  to  his 
own    personahty;    he    can    only   help   others   to 

I  Adv.  Hares,  III,  i,  2.  ^  Compare  Lect.  Ill,  p.  195. 


The  Person  and  Work  of  the  Saviour  loi 

"become  God"  because  that  is  the  character  of 
his  own  being. 

The  problem  of  the  Incarnation  may  really  be 
approached  in  two  ways.  We  may  start  from 
the  conception  of  the  Divine  Nature  and  enquire 
under  what  conditions  it  can  unite  itself  with  a 
human  being.  Or  we  may  investigate  the  historic 
records,  and  ask  what  are  the  facts  to  be  explained 
and  what  explanation  they  suggest.  Irenaeus  uses 
both  methods,  but  the  final  stress  of  his  argument 
falls  on  the  biblical  side.  The  majority  of  the 
Gnostics — Marcion  was  an  exception — employed 
the  other  and  pressed  the  record  into  their  specu- 
lative constructions.  "One  God,"  says  Irenaeus, 
"the  Creator  of  heaven  and  earth."  Such  was 
the  sublime  teaching  of  the  ancient  scriptures. 
Against  the  Gnostics  he  enforces  it  in  its  naked 
simplicity.  "Uninfluenced  by  any  one,  of  his 
own  purpose  and  free-will  he  made  all  things,  in- 
asmuch as  he  is  the  only  God,  the  only  Lord,  the 
only  Creator,  the  only  Father." '  In  such  a  Being 
there  can  be  no  change;  the  Divine  immutability 
is  an  axiom  of  all  Greek  thinking;  the  projection 
of  the  Word  from  within  so  that  he  is  in  some 
fashion  sent  forth  externally  is  inconceivable; 
nothing  in  God  is  older  or  younger;  he  abides  for 
ever  equal  and  the  same;  he  is  wholly  Mind  and 
wholly  Logos.  ^  It  is  the  fundamental  static  idea 
of  Greek  metaphysics.  Hence  the  Logos  is  in  no 
sense  a  "product,"^  he  is  unmade,  he  has  for  ever 

'  Adv.  Hares.,  II,  i,  i.         '  Ibid.,  II,  xiii,  8.  3  See  p.  93. 


102       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

existed  with  the  Father.^  Father  and  Son  thus 
constitute  an  eternally  related  pair;  to  both  the 
name  Lord  {Dominus)  is  applied,  to  him  who  rules 
{dominatur)  and  to  him  who  exercises  the  rule 
{dominium)  which  has  been  entrusted  to  him.* 
Each  is  God,  he  who  is  anointed,  the  Son,  and 
he  who  anoints,  the  Father.  The  very  name, 
"Christ,"  of  necessity  implies  an  anointer,  an 
anointed,  and  an  anointing,  ^  and  such  lan- 
guage inevitably  carries  not  only  time-distinc- 
tions, but  also  some  kind  of  inequality,  where 
one  gives  and  the  other  receives.  Loyal  to 
Scripture,  Irenaeus  dwells  on  the  saying,  "My 
father  is  greater  than  !,"■*  with  the  devout 
remark  that  the  Father  has  been  declared  to 
be  superior  {prcepositus)  in  respect  of  know- 
ledge in  order  that  we  might  leave  such  en- 
quiries to  God.  Yet  so  close  is  their  union  that 
for  man  Christ  is  "the  visible  of  the  Father," 
just  as  the  Father  is  "the  invisible  of  the  Son,"s 
as  though  the  same  Deity  were  apprehended  under 
different  conditions.  In  this  Duality  there  seems 
little  room  for  the  Spirit.  It  is,  however,  identi- 
fied with  the  divine  Wisdom,^  present  with  the 
Father  before  creation,  and  associated  in  that  act 
with  the  instrumental  Logos.  The  distinction  is 
difficult  to  grasp;  between  the  Reason  which  be- 

*  Adv.  Hcsr.,  II,  xxv,  3. 

» Ihid.,  Ill,  vi,  I ,  on  Ps.  ex,  i ;  on  Ps.  xlv,  6.     3  Ibid.,  Ill,  xviii,  3. 

*  Ibid.,  II,  xxviii,  8;  John  xiv,  28.  s  Ibid.,  IV,  vi,  6. 

*  Ibid.,  IV,  XX,  3.     On  the  familiar  ground  of  Prov.  viii,  22. 


The  Person  and  Work  of  the  Saviour  103 

comes  immanent  in  the  world  {uifixus)'  and  the 
Wisdom  which  was  created  for  its  preparation,  it 
is  hard  to  find  a  difference.  Irenaeus  compares 
them  to  God's  two  hands,  summoned  by  him  to 
assist  in  the  production  of  humanity  with  the  call, 
"Let  us  make  man."^  The  eternity  of  the  Spirit 
is  not  definitely  affirmed;  but  another  step  has 
been  taken  towards  the  doctrine  to  which  Tertul- 
lian  will  give  the  name  of  Trinity. 

In  Jesus  Christ  the  Son  became  incarnate. 
Against  the  Ebionites  Irenaeus  emphasizes  his 
Deity ;  against  the  Gnostics  his  humanity ;  if  he  was 
vere  Deus,  he  was  also  vere  homo.^  This  is  not  af- 
firmed on  the  ground  of  Scripture  only.  It  is  an 
essential  condition  of  the  process  of  redemption  as 
Irenaeus  conceived  it.  The  Gospels  show  him  as  a 
man,  though  John  only  declared  that  the  Logos 
hQcame  flesh.  Had  that  been  all,  there  would  have 
been  no  true  "oneness";  the dehverance  of  human- 
ity required  his  full  union  with  our  whole  nature. 
Against  the  notion  that  his  body  was  only  phan- 
tasmal he  pleads  that  if  Christ  did  not  receive  the 
substance  of  flesh  in  actual  birth  from  a  human 
being,  his  suffering  was,  after  all,  no  great  thing.  •» 
On  the  other  hand  he  insists  urgently  against  the 
Ebionites'  doctrine  of  Sonship  by  adoption  at  the 

» Adv.,  liar.,  V,  xviii,  3.  The  Word  exists  in  the  world,  and 
at  the  same  time  invisibly  contains  all  created  things,  with  a 
kind  of  "mutual  inherence." 

=>  Ihid.,  IV,  pra;f.  s  Ihid.,  V,  vi,  7. 

<  Ihid.,  Ill,  xxii,  i ;  cp.  xviii,  6. 


104       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

Baptism,  partly  on  the  ground  of  their  false 
interpretation  of  Scripture,  but  still  more  be- 
cause the  parallel  between  Adam  and  Christ 
required  that  as  Adam  had  been  formed  by 
the  "hand"  of  God  (i.  e.  the  Logos),  so  Christ 
also,  who  (as  the  beginning  of  a  new  humanity) 
was  to  repeat  the  experience  of  Adam,  must 
in  like  manner  have  been  formed  as  man  by 
God. 

\  This  is  the  doctrine  of  recapitulatio,'^  to  which 
Irenaeus  recurs  again  and  again.  It  is  founded 
upon  the  analogy  developed  by  the  Apostle  Paul 
between  the  First  man  and  the  Second.  But  the 
ground  of  the  comparison  is  quite  different.  Paul 
used  it  to  point  the  contrast  between  the  earthly 
and  the  heavenly,  the  man  through  whom  came 
Death,  and  the  man  through  whom  came  the 
Resurrection.  It  was  the  Adam  made  out  of  the 
earth,  weak  and  unstable,  succumbing  to  the  first 
temptation  which  came  in  his  way,  who  floated 
before  the  thought  of  the  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles. 
Irenaeus  fixed  his  gaze  on  the  humanity  which 
was  made  in  the  image  of  God,  endowed  with 
great  gifts  and  powers.  Had  these  been  main- 
tained unimpaired,  their  lofty  exercise  might  have 
led  to  immortality  and  true  union  between  man 
and  his  Maker.  But  they  were  forfeited  by  sin. 
The  Logos  did  not  indeed  desert  his  creation.  He 
remained  in  permanent  fellowship  with  the  human 

'  Founded  on  Eph.   i,    lO,   a.vaKe(f>a\a.i.il}<TaffOai  ri   wdvra   iv  t<^ 
X/)t(rTy. 


The  Person  and  Work  of  the  Saviour  105 

race, '  till  the  time  came  for  the  fulfilment  of  God's 
great  purpose  of  salvation.  Then  the  Logos 
became  man  that  he  might  reproduce  and  com- 
plete the  divine  image  in  humanity.  All  spiritual 
graces  and  capacities  inherent  in  God's  likeness 
were  realized  in  him.  As  in  his  heavenly  life  he 
summed  up  in  himself  all  the  energies  of  the  uni- 
verse, controlling  and  exercising  them  unceasingly, 
so  upon  earth  he  gathered  the  diverse  forms  of 
man's  experience  and  potency  into  one  sinless 
whole.  ^  From  birth  to  death  he  passed  through 
all  the  phases  of  our  life,  in  order  to  save  all,  in- 
fants and  children,  boys,  youths,  and  old  men. 
This  a  priori  view  is  supported  by  an  appeal  to  the 
Jews'  estimate  of  the  age  of  Jesus  {John  viii,  57), 
"Thou  art  not  yet  fifty  years  old,"  which  Irenseus 
interprets  to  mean  that  he  had  nearly  reached  that 
limit.  ^  This  extension  of  the  ministry  over  many 
years  from  its  beginning  when  he  was  about  thirt}^ 
{Luke  iii,  23)  is  justified  by  the  testimony  of  the 
"gospel  and  all  the  elders,"  who  are  stated  to 
have  derived  their  information  not  only  from  John, 
but  the  other  Apostles  also!  The  Word  was  thus 
made  man,  the  invisible  becoming  visible,  the 
incomprehensible  comprehensible,  the  impassible 
passible.''  The  adjectives  are  piled  together  in  a 
burst  of  religious  fervour  at  such  condescension. 
But  a  little  later,  calmer  reflection  resumes  control. 

'  Adv.  Har.,  Ill,  xviii,  i.  '  Ibid.,  V,  xiv,  2. 

3  Ihid.,  II,  xxii,  4-6. 

*  Ibid.,  II,  xvi,  6,  "universa  in  semetipsum  recapitulans." 


io6       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

Was  the  Logos  really  tempted,  did  he  actually 
stiff er  and  die?  For  that  consequence  which 
later  theology  might  defend  under  the  plea  of 
the  communicatio  idiomatum — the  doctrine  that 
the  Two  Natures  were  so  closely  united  that 
whatever  might  be  experienced  by  one  could  be 
affirmed  of  the  other — Irenseus  was  not  prepared. 
He  took  refuge  in  the  pious  faith  that  in  these 
trials  of  moral  steadfastness  or  physical  anguish 
the  Logos,  though  not  withdrawn,  remained 
quiescent."  The  difficulty  of  comprehending  this 
mysterious  suspension  of  its  activity  is  not  dimin- 
ished when  a  modern  student  of  Irenaeus  assures 
us  that  Christ's  "manhood  had  no  personaHty  of 
its  own."^  For  such  an  assertion  no  evidence  is 
offered.  If  personality  has  any  sign  of  its  presence 
at  all,  it  is  in  the  conquest  of  Evil.  Who  or  what 
was  it  that  rejected  Satan's  advances  while  the 
Logos  was  "resting"? 

The  treatise  of  Irenaeus  was  carried  to  Africa, 
and  studied  by  the  Carthaginian  lawyer  Tertul- 
lian.  Of  the  origin  of  the  Church  in  the  brilliant 
and  luxurious  city  nothing  is  known.  Separated 
by  hundreds  of  miles  of  desert  from  Egypt,  but 
connected  by  the  closest  ties  of  commerce  with 
Rome,  for  which  it  provided  the  chief  supply  of 
corn,  Carthage  most  likely  received  the  Gospel 

I  Adv.,  Har.,  Ill,  xix,  3,  riavx^^ovro's  nkv  rod  \byov. 

3  Hitchcock,  IrencBus  of  Lugdimum  (1914),  p.  I55-  This  was 
the  later  doctrine  of  Cyril  of  Alexandria,  and  has  been  revived 
in  recent  Anglican  theology. 


The  Person  and  Work  of  the  Saviour  107 

from  Italy.  No  personal  traditions  lingered 
around  it  like  those  which  linked  Alexandria  with 
the  name  of  Mark.  It  was  the  second  city  of  the 
West,  with  a  population  of  perhaps  half  a  million. 
A  costly  harbour  provided  shelter  for  the  fleets 
which  bore  the  grain  to  the  mouth  of  the  Tiber. 
Splendid  temples  adorned  its  capitol,  to  Jupiter 
Optimus  Maximus  in  the  centre,  with  the  "Heav- 
enly Goddess"  Juno,  the  special  patroness  of  the 
city,  on  one  side,  and  Minerva  on  the  other.  The 
streets  below  were  full  of  the  extravagances  of 
wealth  and  passion.  The  coarseness,  brutality, 
and  superstition  of  popular  practice  are  more 
clearly  reflected  in  TertulHan's  pages  than  in  any 
other  writer.  His  tracts  on  idolatry,  the  theatre, 
woman's  dress,  and  other  social  subjects,  are  full 
of  the  application  of  Christianity  to  daily  life. 
The  ancient  cults  were  making  desperate  efforts 
to  retain  their  hold.  They  had  the  theatres  to 
help  them  as  well  as  the  temples.  The  hot  Afri- 
can blood  welcomed  such  deities  as  Isis  and  Sarapis, 
the  Syrian  Goddess,  and  the  Great  Mother  from 
Phrygia.  Processions  and  festivals,  the  mission- 
ary priests  and  the  guilds  which  they  founded, 
the  Galli  and  the  Flamines,  display  the  feverish 
violence  of  the  popular  religion,  and  form  the 
scenic  background  for  TertulHan's  scorn.  Into 
this  medley  had  come  the  Christian  preacher. 
He  brought  the  Gospel  and  the  Church.  But  the 
new  teaching  was  cast  into  fresh  moulds,  for  Greek 
was  replaced  by  Latin.     The  Church  was  fully 


io8       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

organized.  At  the  first  Carthaginian  council, 
held  under  Bishop  Agrippinus,^  seventy  bishops 
attended  from  Africa  and  Numidia. 

Tertullian  (about  150-225  a.d.)  had  received 
the  education  of  a  young  man  of  good  position, 
destined  for  the  bar.  He  had  studied  in  Rome 
and  Athens;  he  could  write  in  Greek,  though  his 
compositions  in  that  language  have  been  lost. 
Fond  of  history  and  antiquarian  lore,  he  was  inti- 
mately acquainted  with  mythology,  and  he  was 
distinguished  especially  for  his  knowledge  of  law. 
The  philosophers  did  not  attract  him,  though  he 
was  not  without  sympathy  for  the  lofty  ethics  of 
Seneca.  But  he  had  no  desire  after  his  conversion 
to  reconcile  philosophy  with  Christianity.  He 
saw  in  it  only  the  progenitor  of  falsehood;  its 
teachers  were  the  patriarchs  of  heretics.^  "What 
has  Athens,"  he  asks  indignantly,  "to  do  with 
Jerusalem  ?  What  agreement  is  there  between  the 
Academy  and  the  Church?"  He  would  have 
nothing  to  do  with  a  mottled  Christianity,  com- 
pounded of  Stoicism,  Platonism,  and  dialectic.  ^ 
Christianity  had  brought  to  him  a  vehement  moral 
reaction.  He,  too,  had  shared  the  common 
pleasures  of  young  men.  He,  too,  had  scoffed  at 
the  ideas  of  resurrection  and  judgment.     As  he 

'  The  date  is  doubtful,  but  even  if  it  was  as  late  as  Dollinger 
supposed,  218-222  A.D.,  it  would  fall  within  Tertullian 's  lifetime. 
Older  authorities  put  it  186-7. 

'  De  Anima,  iii. 

3  De  PrcBScript.  Heretic,  vii.  Contrast  the  attitude  of  his 
contemporary,  Clement  of  Alexandria,  Lect.  V. 


The  Person  and  Work  of  the  Saviour  109 

looked  back  on  the  odious  sights  which  he  had 
witnessed  in  the  theatre,  the  mutilation  of  Attis, 
the  burning  aUve  of  Herakles,  Mercury  testing  the 
bodies  of  the  dead  with  his  burning  iron,'  he  was 
filled  with  an  agony  of  shame;  he  could  hardly 
endure  the  thought  that  he  had  once  found  enter- 
tainment in  them.  Fierce  anger  rose  in  his  heart 
against  heathenism,  and  against  the  heretics  who 
enfeebled  Christianity  and  hindered  its  victories. 
It  seemed  impudent  in  him  to  write  about  patience 
which  he  was  not  fit  to  practise,  being  such  a 
worthless  fellow.  Branded  with  the  scars  of  every 
sin,  he  was  born  for  nothing  but  repentance.  ^ 

Since  the  execution  of  the  martyrs  of  Scilli  at 
Carthage  in  180  there  had  been  irregular  and  in- 
termittent attacks  upon  the  Christians.  Tertul- 
lian  might  have  seen  heathen  and  Jew  unite  to 
break  up  Christian  meetings,  destroy  the  houses 
and  churches  of  the  Hving,  and  despoil  the  resting- 
places  of  the  dead.  Caricatures  of  the  Christians' 
God  were  carried  through  the  streets  amid  howl- 
ing crowds;  and  at  last,  moved  by  their  constancy, 
Tertullian  (about  192)  cast  in  his  lot  with  them, 
and  was  subsequently  ordained  a  presbyter.  His 
pen  was  soon  enlisted  in  their  behalf;  and  it  is 
worth  noting  that  though  philosophy  did  not 
move  him,  he  could  encourage  the  martyrs  by  ap- 
peals to  the  classic  examples  of  Lucretia  and  Mu- 
cius  Scaevola,  of  Dido  and  the  wife  of  Hasdrubal, 
of  Regulus  in  his  chest  pierced  with  nails  enduring 

*  Apologeticics,  xv.  ^  De  Patient.,  i;  De  Panitenl.,  xii. 


no       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

so  many  crucifixions ;  while  the  traveller  in  Greece 
recalls  that  even  in  his  own  day  Spartan  youths 
still  submitted  themselves  before  the  altar  to  the 
scourge."  Who  was  it,  then,  for  whom  it  was  so 
well  worth  while  to  die? 

The  Christology  of  TertuUian  was  formed  on 
the  one  hand  along  the  lines  of  Church  tradition 
and  the  Rule  of  Faith  with  the  Scriptures  in  the 
background,  ^  and  on  the  other  by  reaction  against 
various  forms  of  contemporary  heresy.  He  took 
the  field  against  Marcion  about  200  a.d.  With 
the  help  of  Irenseus  and  others  he  wrote  against  the 
Valentinian  Gnostics.  ^  But  he  was  led  to  for- 
mulate his  views  on  the  Trinity  and  the  person 
of  Christ  in  controversy  with  Praxeas,  formerly  a 
confessor  in  Asia  Minor,  who  brought  a  form  of 
Monarchianism  from  Rome  to  Carthage.''  At 
Rome  he  had  successfully  won  back  the  Bishop 
from  adherence  to  the  New  Prophecy  of  Montan- 
ism,s  of  which  feat  TertulHan  (himself  then  an 
ardent  Montanist)  scornfully  remarked  that  he 
had  done  the  devil  a  double  service,  "he  had 
driven  out  prophecy  and  brought  in  heresy,  he 
put  the  Paraclete  to  flight,  and  crucified  the 
Father."^    The   pecuHar   type   of    "Monarchy" 

'  Ad  Martyres  (about  197),  iv.  *  See  Lect.  Ill,  p.  195. 

3  Adv.  Valentin.,  v.  His  list  includes  Justin,  Miltiades  (who 
wrote  a  lost  Apology  under  Marcus  Aurelius),  and  "our  own 
Proculus,  pattern  of  chaste  old  age  and  Christian  eloquence." 

4  See  Note  D,  p.  133.  «  Cp.  Lect.  Ill,  p.  201. 

^  Adv.  Praxeam,  i.     The  book  is  now  usuJly  referred  to  217 

A.D. 


The  Person  and  Work  of  the  Saviour  iii 

thus  mockingly  described  was  afterwards  nick- 
named Patripassianism,  and  is  said  to  have  been 
founded  on  a  view  of  the  unity  of  God  which 
affirmed  that  the  Father  himself  was  born  of  the 
Virgin,  became  Jesus  Christ,  and  suffered  on 
the  cross.  To  this  doctrine  Tertullian  opposes  the 
"Economy"^  which  distributes  the  Unity  into  a 
Trinity, ^  arranging  the  Three  as  "Father,  Son,  and 
Holy  Spirit,  not  in  condition  {statu)  but  in  relation 
(gradu),  not  in  substance  but  in  mode  of  existence 
(forma) ,  not  in  power  but  in  special  characteristics 
(specie);  yea  rather  of  one  substance  and  of  one 
condition  and  power,  inasmuch  as  it  is  one  God 
from  whom  these  relations  and  modes  and  special 
characteristics  are  reckoned."^ 

But  these  three  terms  do  not  apparently  take 
equal  rank  in  Tertullian's  thought.  The  relation 
of  the  Father  and  the  Son  is  obviously  the  most 
important.  In  commenting  on  the  opening  clause 
of  the  Lord's  Prayer  he  observes  that  in  the  Father 
the  Son  also  is  invoked,  "for  I,"  saith  he,  "and  the 
Father  are  one,"  and  then  follows  the  singular 
remark  that  "our  Mother  the  Church"  is  not 
ignored  if  in  the  Father  and  the  Son  the  Mother 
from   whom    those  names   arise   is   recognized.'' 

'  Ibid.,  ii.  oUovofj-la,  or  dispensation;  cp.  Ephes.  i,  lo:  iii,  9. 
^  The  first  appearance  of  the  term  in   this  sense.     In  Adv. 
Valent.,  xvii,  its  use  is  different. 

3  Cp.  Bethune-Baker,  Introd.  to  the  Early  History  of  Christian 
Doctrine,  pp.  138-140,  for  some  explanations  of  TertulHan's 
terminology. 

4  De  Orat.,  ii. 


112       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

The  Church  here  is  included  in  the  statement 
Deum  cum  suis  honoramics,  in  place  of  the  Spirit. 
In  dealing  with  the  being  and  function  of  the  Son 
Tertullian  is  embarrassed  by  the  double  applica- 
tion of  the  term  Logos  as  Reason  or  Utterance 
(Speech) .  The  alliance  of  Logos  with  Nous  might 
have  suggested  an  emphasis  on  the  element  of 
thought,  but  the  Latin  ratio  could  not  be  employed 
for  what  came  forth  in  actual  words.  That  was 
the  side  on  which  Tertulhan  took  it.  He  ren- 
dered the  term  by  Verbum,  "Word,"  and  he  knew 
the  precise  moment  when  the  Word  was  begotten. 
Its  perfect  nativity  took  place  in  the  first  act  of 
creation  when  God  said,  "Let  there  be  light."' 
At  that  moment  he  became  Son  of  God,  and  was 
begotten  by  issuing  forth  from  him.  The  Son 
then  had  his  own  substantia,  with  its  special  prop- 
erties or  characteristics.  He  was  a  "projection" 
from  the  Father,  but  no  more  separate  from  him 
than  the  tree  from  the  root,  the  river  from  the 
spring,  the  ray  from  the  sun.  Following  these 
analogies  Tertullian  calls  God  and  his  Word,  the 
Father  and  the  Son,  two,''  and  the  Spirit  makes  a 

I  Adv.  Praxeam,  vii.  The  Word  is  identified  as  usual  with 
Wisdom  (Prov.  viii,  22),  and  is  accordingly  said  to  have  been 
"formed"  in  the  beginning  of  God's  ways  to  think  out  the  world, 
and  then  "begotten"  to  carry  all  into  effect.  Even  in  the  char- 
acter of  Wisdom,  therefore,  the  Word,  anterior  to  generation,  was 
not  eternal.  Still  he  refers  sympathetically  to  Stoic  views  (Zeno 
and  Cleanthes),  and  says  that  the  Word  and  Reason  and  Power 
have  Spirit  as  their  proper  and  essential  substratum  {Apologet., 
xxi.) 

^  Ibid.,  viii. 


The  Person  and  Work  of  the  Saviour  113 

third  like  the  fruit  of  a  tree  from  its  root.  So 
does  the  Trinity  "flow  down  from  the  Father  by- 
connected  steps." 

To  these  three  terms  TertulHan  gives  the  name 
"persons."  Persona  is  here  no  actor's  mask,  no 
aspect  or  assumed  character  Hke  the  Greek 
prosopon.  In  civil  speech  and  legal  language  it 
had  acquired  the  meaning  "personaHty."  It 
denoted  an  individual  with  rights  at  law,  and  Ter- 
tulHan writes  and  argues  as  a  lawyer.  What  re- 
lation, then,  subsisted  between  them  ?  His  answer 
was  clear,  though  hardly  expressible  in  English. 
The  Three  were  tmum  not  unus."-  The  neuter 
unum  is  elsewhere  equated  with  substantia,  and 
the  doctrine  emerges  in  the  form  "three  persons — 
one  substance,"  "the  Father  is  God,  and  the  Son 
is  God,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  is  God,  and  each  is 
God."^  And  yet  in  the  same  treatise  we  are 
informed  that  ' '  the  Father  is  the  whole  substance, 
the  Son  is  a  derivation  and  portion  of  the  whole." ^ 
So  difficult  is  consistency  on  these  giddy  heights. 
The  reason  apparently  lies  in  Tertullian's  iden- 
tification of  the  generation  of  the  Son  with  the 
first  recorded  utterance  of  God.  How  could 
there  be  a  Father,  he  asks,  before  there  was  a  Son  ? 
No  more  could  he  be  a  Judge  before  there  was  any 
sin.     There  was  a  time,  then,  when  he  had  no 

'  Adv.  Praxeam,  xxv.  The  neuter  and  the  masculine  suggest 
"one  thing"  and  "one  person"  to  the  English  reader,  which  is 
of  course  all  wrong.  Similarly  in  John  x,  30,  both  Greek  and 
Latin  have  the  neuter. 

» Ibid.,  xiii.  ^  i^WJ.,  ix. 


114      Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

Son,  and  though  he  was  God  eternally  he  was  not 
on  that  account  Father  eternally.^  Such  is  the 
conflict  between  the  two  tendencies  of  subordina- 
tion and  equality. 

In  the  application  of  these  conceptions  to  the 
person  of  Christ  a  difference  is  at  once  apparent 
in  the  use  of  terms  compared  with  the  ultimate 
decisions  of  the  Church.  Christ  is  indubitably 
God  and  Man,  but  the  Deity  and  the  Humanity 
have  each  its  own  "substance"  with  its  character- 
istic properties.^  Tertullian  does  indeed  allow 
himself  to  speak  of  God's  awaiting  the  time  of 
birth  in  his  mother's  womb,  and  when  born  en- 
during to  grow  up.^  "The  Son  of  God  died,"  he 
exclaims  triumphantly,  "it  is  to  be  believed  be- 
cause it  is  ineptiim;  and  he  was  buried  and  rose 
again,  it  is  certain  because  it  is  impossible."'' 
Hence  there  was  some  kind  of  participation  by 
the  divine  "substance"  in  the  development  and 
the  suffering  of  the  human.  But  they  were  not 
blended  into  one  as  gold  and  silver  are  combined 
into  electrum,  where  both  substances  are  changed 
and  a  third  is  produced.^  In  writings  spread 
over  many  years  precise  consistency  is  not  to  be 
expected,  and  Tertullian  sometimes  uses  the  phrase 
of  Irenseus,  "Man  mingled  with  God."^   But  in  his 

'  Adv.  Hermogeneni,  iii.  »  Adv.  Praxeam,  xxvii. 

3  De  Patientia,  iii. 

4  De  Came  Christi,  v;  the  origin  of  the  apocryphal  Credo  quia 
absurdum. 

^  Adv.  Praxeam,  xxvii. 

^  Harnack,  History  oj  Dogma,  ii,  p.  280. 


The  Person  and  Work  of  the  Saviour  1 15 

latest  teaching  he  repudiated  the  notion  that 
the  two  substances  were  blended  in  such  a  way 
as  to  effect  an  internal  union.  The  Incarnation 
resulted  in  "a  twofold  condition,  not  con- 
founded but  conjoined  in  one  person,  God  and 
the  Man  Jesus.""  The  path  to  Chalcedon  has 
been  opened. 

If  such  were  the  conceptions  of  the  Person  of 
the  Saviour,  how  did  they  affect  the  presentation 
of  his  Work  ?  What  were  the  special  means  which 
he  employed  to  fulfil  God's  saving  purpose  ?  Why 
was  it  necessary  for  him  to  become  man?  To 
these  questions  varying  answers  are  given  within 
the  limits  of  the  New  Testament  itself;  it  is  not 
surprising  that  subsequent  writers  should  seize 
different  aspects  of  the  Gospel-story.  Echoes  of 
the  language  of  Paul  are  occasionally  to  be  heard. 
Clement  bids  the  Corinthians  fix  their  gaze  on 
Christ's  blood,  "poured  out  for  our  salvation" 
and  bringing  the  grace  of  repentance  to  all  the 
world.  Rahab's  scarlet  thread  is  already  a 
prophecy  of  "redemption  through  the  blood  of  the 
Lord."  It  was  the  great  act  of  love  when  by 
God's  will  "Jesus  Christ  our  Lord  gave  his  blood 
for  us,  and  his  flesh  for  our  flesh,  and  his  soul  (or 
life)  for  our  souls."  ^  So  had  kings  and  rulers  of 
old  in  obedience  to  oracles  dehvered  their  subjects 

» Adv.  Praxeani,  xxvii. 

'  I  Clem.,  vii,  4;  xii,  7 ;  xlix,  6.  The  last  words  may  be  rendered 
"his  life  for  our  lives,"  but  Prof.  Lake  justly  remarks  that  there 
seems  to  be  an  antithesis  between  "flesh"  and  "soul." 


ii6       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

through  their  own  blood.  So  did  many  among 
the  Christians,  says  Clement  proudly,  surrender 
themselves  to  bondage  that  they  might  redeem 
others.^  There  are  parallels  which  must  not  be 
pressed  to  identities.  It  suffices  for  the  behever 
that  he  has  been  called  from  darkness  to  light, 
from  ignorance  to  the  full  knowledge  of  God's 
glorious  name.^  The  fact  of  salvation  is  too 
fresh  and  overpowering  to  need  any  explana- 
tion of  its  method.  It  is  enough  to  rejoice 
that  the  Only  God,  the  Invisible,  Father  of 
truth,  sent  forth  the  Saviour  and  Prince  of 
Immortality  to  make  manifest  the  Truth  and 
the  heavenly  life.  ^ 

Revelation  for  this  world  and  promise  for  the 
world  to  come  will  long  be  among  the  chief  notes 
of  Hellenic  Christianity.  But  there  were  more 
impassioned  teachers  who  were  conscious  of  closer 
union  with  the  risen  Lord.  Ignatius,  though  he 
only  begins  to  be  a  disciple,  feels  that  his  life  is 
inseparable  from  that  of  Christ.'*  His  birth,  his 
passion,  his  resurrection,  these  are  the  three  instru- 
ments of  God's  Providence  for  the  overthrow  of 
all  magic,  the  removal  of  ignorance,  and  the 
abolition  of  death.  His  birth  was  the  needful 
guarantee  of  his  real  humanity.  On  the  cross  he 
suffered  for  our  sins;  panting  for  martyrdom 
Ignatius  entreats  the  Roman  Christians  not  to 
prevent  him  from  imitating  the  passion  of  his 

'  I  Clem.,  Iv.  "  Ibid.,  lix;  cp.  2  Clem.,  i,  4;  ii,  7. 

3  2  Clem.,  XX,  5.  "  Ephes.,  iii,  2. 


The  Person  and  Work  of  the  Saviour  117 

God^;  he  tells  the  Magnesians  that  unless  they 
die  through  Christ  in  his  passion  of  their  own  free 
choice,  his  Hfe  is  not  in  them. '  Ignatius  does  not 
use  the  language  of  justification  or  reconciliation 
in  the  Pauline  sense;  but  he  shares  the  Apostle's 
identification  of  the  disciple's  experience  with 
that  of  his  Lord.  The  cross  is  salvation  and  eter- 
nal life;  the  resurrection  is  the  guarantee  that  all 
true  believers  shall  be  raised  with  him.  It  was  to 
inaugurate  this  wondrous  novelty  that  God  was 
manifested  as  man.^  That  the  Lord  endured 
suffering  to  bring  death  to  nought  and  show  forth 
the  resurrection,  is  the  teaching  ascribed  to  Bar- 
nabas ;  he  came  in  the  flesh  because  otherwise  men 
could  not  have  been  saved  by  beholding  him^ — a 
touch  of  the  Hellenic  thought  which  made  vision 
the  way  to  spiritual  union;  his  blood  was  shed 
that  we  might  be  consecrated  through  the  for- 
giveness of  sins.  That  consecration  is  in  fact  a 
fresh  creation;  we  are  made  new  from  the  begin- 
ning; God  truly  dwells  in  us  as  he  had  dwelt 
among  Israel  of  old ;  the  covenant  is  made  with  us, 
for  the  Father  enjoined  on  him  to  redeem  us  from 
darkness  and  prepare  a  holy  people  for  himself.  ^ 

The  author  of  the  letter  to  Diognetus  contrasts 
the  "vain  and  foolish"  statements  of  philosophers 
with  the  revelation  made  through  the  beloved 

'  Romans,  vi,  3.  So  Polycarp  longs  to  share  in  the  cup  of 
Christ,  Martyr.  Pol.,  xiv. 

'  Magnesians,  v.  '  Ephesians  v,  3. 

"  Ep.  Barn.,  v,  10.  s  Ibid.,  xiv,  5-6. 


ii8       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

Servant. '  What  surpassing  kindness  and  love  for 
God  to  give  his  own  Son  as  a  ransom  for  us,  the 
Holy  for  the  wicked,  the  Immortal  for  the  mortal! 
He  gave  us  a  Saviour  that  we  should  believe  on  his 
goodness,  and  regard  him  as  nurse,  father,  teacher, 
counsellor,  physician,  mind,  Hght,  honour,  glory, 
strength,  and  Hfe.^  What  joy  and  love  should 
such  a  gift  call  forth!  Will  not  man  follow  the 
example  of  such  kindliness  and  begin  at  once  the 
imitatio  Dei  ?  It  is  possible,  if  man  wills.  Salva- 
tion is  not  contingent  on  some  inscrutable  election 
by  God;  it  is  the  effect  of  realizing  the  wondrous 
condescension  of  the  Father  and  the  obedient 
self -surrender  of  the  Son.^ 

Truth,  forgiveness,  freedom,  immortality  are 
the  watchwords  of  Justin's  Christianity.  These 
are  the  gifts  of  the  Logos,  to  whom  in  his  eathly 
manifestation  Justin  again  and  again  applies  the 
endearing  term,  "our  Teacher."  Into  the  conflict 
of  philosophies  he  brought  the  final  and  perfect 
revelation.  An  Apostle  from  the  Father  he  came 
as  a  Power  from  on  high,  whole  and  complete, 
contrasted  with  the  partial  apprehensions  of  human 
reason. 4  Prophecy  guaranteed  his  teaching;  and 
it  was  justified  by  its  results.  In  old  time  God  had 
given  the  sun  as  an  object  for  men's  worship,  s 

^  On  iraii  cp.  p.  76. 

=»  It  may  be  noted  that  this  list  does  not  contain  the  title 
"priest"  or  "high  priest,"  employed  elsewhere,  i  Clem.,  xxxvi,  i; 
Ignat.,  Philad.,  ix,  i;  Martyr  Polyc,  xiv,  3. 

3  Ep.  ad  Diognet.,  8-10.  4  i  ApoL,  xii;  2  ApoL,  x. 

s  Cp.  Deut.  iv,  19;  Dial.,  cxxi. 


The  Person  and  Work  of  the  Saviour  119 

but  who  ever  died,  asks  Justin,  for  his  faith  in  the 
sun?  But  in  every  nation  men  have  endured  all 
sufferings  rather  than  deny  the  name  of  Jesus. 
The  word  of  his  truth  and  wisdom  is  more  glowing 
than  the  sun,  and  reaches  the  very  depths  of  heart 
and  mind ;  and  in  proof  of  its  excellence  Justin  re- 
produces large  portions  of  the  Synoptic  sayings. 
Christ  is  himself  the  new  law  and  the  new  cove- 
nant. The  life  of  Jesus  accordingly  assumes  a  high 
value  in  his  eyes,  for  it  was  the  field  for  the  mani- 
festation of  his  truth  in  action  as  well  as  in  speech ; 
what  loyalty  of  submission  was  fulfilled  when  the 
Son  of  God  made  ploughs  and  yokes!  Forgive- 
ness had  been  prophesied  by  the  Holy  Spirit 
through  the  dying  Jacob,  for  the  prediction,  "he 
shall  wash  his  garments  with  wine,"  meant  that 
he  would  wash  those  who  received  remission  of 
sins  with  his  own  blood.'  In  baptism,  accord- 
ingly, the  convert  was  bom  again;  his  past  sins 
were  forgiven;  light  filled  his  mind  as  he  was 
translated  out  of  the  kingdom  of  darkness ;  though 
sunk  in  the  most  grievous  offences,  he  was  puri- 
fied.* The  power  which  effected  this  lay  in  the 
cross.  There  was  the  means  which  set  men  free 
from  the  slavery  of  sin,  the  attacks  of  the  demons, 
and  the  grip  of  death.  Hung  on  the  tree  Christ 
came  under  the  curse  of  the  law,  ^  and  thus  took 
on  himself  the  curse  that  had  fallen  on  all  human- 

'  Dialogue,   liv,   the  garments  are  identified   with   believers, 
amongst  whom  Christ  is  always  present  in  power. 

'  I  Apol.,  Ixi;  Dial.,  lx.xxvi.  ^  Deut.  xxi,  23;  Dial.,  xcvi. 


120       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

ity.^  By  this  means  he  broke  the  power  of  the 
Devil  and  brought  to  beHevers  deHverance  from 
the  serpent's  fangs.  Why  otherwise  should 
Moses  have  set  up  the  brazen  serpent  for  a  sign, 
when  it  had  been  already  annoimced  that  no  like- 
ness of  any  creature  should  be  made?^  The  per- 
verse ingenuity  displayed  by  Justin  in  discovering 
types  and  emblems  of  the  cross  all  through  the 
Old  Testament,  even  to  the  lost  axe-head  of  the 
sons  of  the  prophets  which  Elisha  recovered  from 
the  Jordan  with  a  stick,  is  at  least  a  measure  of 
the  importance  which  he  attached  to  it.  The 
method  culminates  in  the  charge  that  the  Jews 
had  mutilated  a  passage  {Ps.  xcvi,  lo),  "Say 
among  the  nations,  the  Lord  reigneth  from  the 
wood" — a  clear  prophecy  of  the  sovereignty  at- 
tained on  the  cross — by  cutting  out  the  last  words.  ^ 
There  he  gained  the  final  victory  over  the  Devil 
and  death.  This  enabled  him  to  protect  his  own 
from  danger  and  ward  off  the  attacks  of  hostile 
powers,  so  that  it  might  even  be  said  that  he  was 
made  man  for  the  sake  of  believers  and  the  de- 
struction of  the  demons.  To  the  mysterious 
efficacy  of  his  name  for  this  end  Justin  appeals 
again  and  again  as  matter  of  public  notoriety.'* 
It  is  for  the  faithful  who  have  learned  of  Christ 
to  use  their  freedom;  in  temperance  and  justice 
and  the  love  of  man  the  true  purpose  of  our  crea- 
tion, the  imitatio  Dei,  is  achieved.  ^     Such  Chris- 

'  Deut.  xxvii,  26;  Dial.,  xcv.       »  Dial.,  xciv.       J  Dial.,  Ixxiii. 
'I  2  Apol.,  vi;  Dial.,  xxx,  Ixxxiii,  etc.  s  i  Apol.,  x. 


The  Person  and  Work  of  the  Saviour  121 

tians  have  been  stripped  of  their  sins  and  vested  in 
new  robes  by  their  Redeemer;  they  are  the  true 
high-priestly  race  of  God,  who  offer  pure  sacrifices 
of  thanksgiving  and  prayer.'  The  sequel  of  such 
deHverance  is  immortality.  Philosophers  and 
poets  might  have  received  suggestions  of  future 
punishments  and  the  vision  of  heavenly  things 
from  Moses  and  the  prophets.^  But  they  could 
not  foresee  the  conquest  of  death  which  began 
upon  the  cross,  and  was  proved  by  the  resurrec- 
tion. It  will  not  be  completed  till  Christ's  second 
coming,  when  the  great  judgment  will  take  place 
and  incorruption  will  be  conferred  on  those  who 
inherit  the  kingdom  and  share  his  reign.  ^  And 
so  from  first  to  last  believers,  in  Justin's  vigorous 
metaphor,  are  hewn  out  of  the  belly  of  Christ.'' 

This  type  of  Christianity  necessarily  laid  great 
stress  upon  its  teaching.  It  was  by  instruction 
that  the  Logos  made  mortals  immortal  and  men 
divine.  ^  The  restoration  of  the  knowledge  of  the 
religion  of  the  forefathers,  corrupted  by  the  envy 
of  the  Devil,  was  the  purpose  of  the  Incarnation.^ 
The  worship  of  One  God,  Lord  of  heaven  and 
earth,  is  again  and  again  the  martyr's  profession 
of  faith.  ApoUonius,  who  suffered  in  Rome,  185 
A.D.,  adds  to  this  declaration  that  it  was  taught 
by  the  Saviour  Jesus  Christ  who  became  man  in 

I  Dial.,  cxvi,  cxvii.     For  Christian  conduct,  cp.  i  ApoL,  xiv. 
'  I  ApoL,  \liv.  i  Dial.,  x\v.  *  Ibid.,  ctlxxv. 

s  Oratio  ad  Crctcos  (sometimes  printed  with  Justin's  works), 
V.     Cp.  Lcct.  I,  p.  57. 

*  Cohortatio  ad  Getitiles  (similarly  printed),  xxxviii. 


122       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

Judea,  in  all  respects  righteous  and  filled  with 
divine  wisdom.  From  him  came  the  Christian 
ethic,  to  stop  anger,  to  control  desire,  to  chastise 
pleasures,  and  that  life  of  obedience,  simpHcity, 
and  brotheriy  love,  which  led  to  immortahty.^ 
Phocas,  who  perished  in  the  persecution  under 
Trajan  in  Bithynia-Pontus,  is  charged  by  the 
Eparch  Africanus  with  philosophizing  when  he 
pleads  for  the  One  Unseen  God  of  whom  he  has 
learned  from  the  Crucified.  He  will  have  none 
of  it,  he  is  a  lover  of  Christ  whom  he  knows  to  be 
his  Lord  and  God  and  King.  Aristotle  taught  a 
new  and  fallacious  philosophy,  but  Christ  the 
true  doctrine  of  God  and  virtuous  life;  and  he 
bestowed  temperance  and  self-control,  piety  and 
immortality  on  those  who  believed  in  one  God.^ 
When  Tatian  addresses  the  Greeks  he  does  not 
even  name  Jesus  or  Christ  from  end  to  end.  His 
whole  appeal  rests  on  the  Logos.  ^  Man  is  the 
bondman  of  sin;  misuse  of  freewill  has  enslaved 
him.  What  is  the  way  to  regain  freedom?  "Die 
to  the  world  and  live  to  God."^  Ignorance  is 
darkness;  the  Logos  is  the  light  of  God;  only  the 
knowledge  of  the  truth  gives  life;  live  justly  and 
the  divine  Spirit  will  guide  you  to  the  home  above ; 
union  with  God  restores  man's  lost  immortality.^ 

I  "Acts  of  ApoUonius,"  in  Knopf's  AusgewdhUe  Mdrtyrerakten 
(1913).  §§36,  37,  p.  39-  Cp.  Conybeare,  The  Armenian  Apology 
and  Acts  of  ApoUonius  (1896),  p.  45. 

3  Bollandist  Acta  Sanctorum,  July,  Vol.  iii,  p.  641,  cap.  i,  6. 

3  He  once  quotes  John  i,  5,  §  xiii. 

4  Oratio  ad  Gracos,  xi.  5  Ihid.,  xiii,  XV. 


The  Person  and  Work  of  the  Saviour  123 

Writing  against  Marcion  in  the  middle  of  the 
second  century,  Justin  declared: 

I  would  not  have  believed  the  Lord  himself  if  he 
had  proclaimed  any  other  God  beside  our  Framer  and 
Maker  and  Nourisher.  But  since  the  only  begotten 
Son  came  to  us  from  the  One  God,  who  both  made  this 
world  and  formed  us,  and  contains  and  administers 
all  things,  summing  up  his  formation  in  himself,^  my 
faith  towards  him  is  firm,  and  my  love  towards  the 
Father  immovable,  both  these  being  God's  gifts. 

Justin's  work  has  disappeared,  but  the  passage 
supplied  Irenasus  with  his  famous  interpretation  of 
the  Pauline  doctrine  of  the  "summing  up"  of  all 
things  in  Christ.^ 

For  Irenaeus  the  process  of  salvation  formed 
itself  into  an  immense  drama  covering  all  time, 
in  which  God,  Christ,  Man,  Death,  and  the  Devil, 
played  the  leading  parts.  The  actual  situation 
was  that  man  had  not  been  created  perfect  and 
immortal  all  at  once.  ^  He  was  designed  to  become 
so;  he  was  to  progress  in  goodness  and  knowledge 
through  voluntary  obedience.  Irenasus,  like  the 
Apologists,  held  freewill  to  be  the  necessary  condi- 
tion of  all  moral  advance.  The  human  soul  had 
not  (as  the  Gnostics  taught)  fallen  from  a  higher 
state,  nor  was  it  in  bondage  to  demonic  powers. 

»  "Suum  plasma  in  semetipsum  recapitulans." 
^  Ephcs.  I,  10;  cp.  ante,  p.  104.     The  Vulgate  here  uses  the  word 
instaurarc. 

3  Adv.  Ilccres.,  IV,  xxxviii. 


124       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

But  though  man  was  created  in  God's  image,  the 
divine  likeness  was  not  actually  presented  to  him 
in  a  visible  person.  He  had  no  external  pattern 
which  he  might  reproduce;  he  failed  to  preserve 
the  likeness  himself,  and  lost  it  by  transgression. 
Without  wholly  forfeiting  his  freedom,  he  never- 
theless fell  into  Sin's  power,  and  passed  under  the 
sway  of  Death,  ^  Had  he  permanently  remained 
so,  God  would  have  been  defeated,  and  the  Devil 
triumphant.^  To  restore  the  victory  to  God,  to 
bring  humanity  to  its  divine  goal,  the  Son  of  God 
became  man,  for  he  who  was  to  be  the  Mediator 
between  God  and  man  must  possess  the  nature  of 
both.^  His  first  function,  accordingly,  was,  for 
Irenaeus  as  for  the  Apologists,  that  of  Revealer. 
"In  no  way  could  we  have  learned  the  things  of 
God,  unless  our  Master,  existing  as  the  Word,  had 
become  man."  "*  No  other  but  the  Son  could  have 
made  known  the  Father  ^ ;  nor  could  we  have  pro- 
fited by  his  teaching  except  by  seeing  the  teacher 
and  hearing  him  with  our  own  ears.  To  have 
communion  with  him  we  must  be  imitators  of  his 
works  and  doers  of  his  words.  For  this  end  his 
life  was  itself  one  of  the  means  of  salvation. 

Two  great  tasks  were  then  assigned  to  him,  to 
set  man  free  from  the  sway  of  death,  and  to  effect 
a  fellowship  of  union  between  God  and  man.^ 

'  Adv.  HcBres.,  V,  xvi.  '  Ibid.,  Ill,  xxiii,  I. 

3  Ibid.,  Ill,  xviii,  7.  4  Ibid.,  V,  i. 

s  Ibid.,  IV,  vi,  in  exposition  of  Matt,  xi,  27. 
^Apostolic  Preaching  (from  the  Armenian),  in  Texte  und  Uri' 
tersuch,  xxxi,  i  (1907),  §6. 


The  Person  and  Work  of  the  Saviour  125 

The  first  object  implied  a  victory  over  sin;  in 
Scripture  language  the  strong  man  must  be  bound. 
Conqueror  in  temptation,  Christ  was  triumphant 
over  Satan.  To  be  truly  tempted  it  was  essential 
that  he  should  be  truly  man.  But  to  vanquish 
the  Devil  he  needed  the  strength  of  God. '  The 
abolition  of  Death's  power,  however,  was  not  at 
once  secured.  The  dominion  of  the  Devil  was 
founded  on  violence  and  deceit;  it  was  not  fitting 
that  it  should  be  wrested  from  him  by  correspond- 
ing force  or  fraud.  If  Death's  power  was  to  be 
taken  away,  man's  debt  to  Death  must  first 
be  paid.  If  the  control  of  the  Apostasy  was  to  be 
broken,  it  must  be  with  consent  and  for  a  price. 
In  that  process  of  "recapitulation"  by  which 
Christ  reproduced  in  himself  the  experiences  of 
man,  he  repeated  death,  as  he  had  repeated  birth 
and  youth  and  age.^*  By  this  means  the  debt  of 
humanity  to  Death  was  discharged.  The  re- 
demption from  the  Apostasy  was  apparently  more 
difficult,  and  needed  a  God  of  counsel.  For  the 
Devil  had  to  be  persuaded  to  forgo  his  prey. 
Apparently  he  was  induced  {secundum  siiadelani) 
to  accept  the  Lord's  death  (mystically  summing 
up  the  deaths  of  the  whole  race)  as  the  equivalent ; 
soul  was  given  for  souls,  and  flesh  for  flesh,  and 
thus  God's  ancient  handiwork  was  saved  from 
destruction,  and  justice  as  between  God  and 
Satan   remained   unimpaired.^     It  is    a    strange 

'  Adv.  Hares.,  IV,  xxxiii,  4;  V,  xxii,  i. 

» Ibid.,  V,  xxiii,  2;  cp.  ante,  p.  105.  J  Ibid.,  V,  i,  i. 


126       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

foretaste  of  the  scholastic  arguments  of  Anselm. 
There  are  hints  of  propitiation  to  the  Father 
against  whom  we  had  sinned, '  and  the  total  result 
is  the  reconciliation  of  man  to  God.  That  would 
have  been  impossible  had  not  Christ's  flesh  been  of 
the  same  substance  as  ours.  It  would  have  equally 
been  impossible  had  not  the  Word  of  God  dwelt 
in  him  that  he  might  accustom  man  to  receive  God, 
and  might  accustom  God  to  dwell  in  man.  ^ 

The  demands  of  righteousness  were  thus  ful- 
filled as  regards  the  past.  What,  then,  of  the 
future  ?  A  new  way  for  humanity  was  inaugurated 
when  the  Son  of  God  condescended  to  become  Son 
of  man.  The  true  image  of  God  must  be  displayed 
that  men  might  know  how  it  would  shine  through 
word  and  deed.  If  man's  union  with  God  was 
the  ultimate  purpose  of  the  Creator  in  first  making 
him,  that  union  must  be  actually  exhibited  within 
the  limits  of  our  experience.^  Adam  had  failed 
to  realize  it.  Christ  by  becoming  incarnate 
gathered  up  into  himself  the  long  series  of  human- 
ity' and  provided  us  in  an  epitome  {in  compendio) 

^  Adv.  Hares.,  V,  xvii,  i,  apparently  by  Christ.  Tertullian 
afterwards  uses  the  term  satisfaction  for  the  first  time,  but  in 
the  sense  of  amends  made  by  sinners  through  confession,  re- 
pentance, and  good  works.  Bethune-Baker,  Introd.  to  the  Early 
History  of  Christian  Doctrine,  p.  333. 

2  Ibid.,  Ill,  XX,  2.  3  Ihid.,  V,  xxxviii,  I. 

4  Ibid.,  Ill,  xviii,  I,  "longam  hominum  expositionem  in  seipso 
recapitulavit."  The  Syriac  translation  "began  afresh"  (like  the 
Vulgate  instaurare  in  Ephes.  i,  10)  points  to  the  opening  of  a  new 
line  rather  than  the  "summing  up "  of  the  past.  It  may  perhaps 
be  suggested  that  Ireneeus  intended  to  include  both. 


The  Person  and  Work  of  the  Saviour  127 

with  salvation,  ' '  so  that  what  we  had  lost  in  Adam, 
existence  according  to  the  image  and  likeness  of 
God,  we  might  win  back  in  Christ  Jesus."  Had 
that  image  been  cherished,  the  progressive  advance 
of  man  would  have  led  him  into  eternal  fellowship 
with  God.  The  entrance  of  sin  and  death  frus- 
trated that  purpose,  and  it  was  needful  that  a 
fresh  power  should  be  introduced,  not  merely  to 
overcome  the  consequences  of  the  past  but  to 
provide  for  the  future.  It  was  for  this  purpose 
that  the  Word  in  his  boundless  love  "became 
what  we  are  that  he  might  make  us  what  he  is 
himself."^  This  opens  the  way  to  endless  pros- 
pects of  entrance  into  God:  "how  should  man 
enter  into  God,  unless  God  had  first  entered 
into  man?"^  This  fellowship,  this  union  (svwat; 
and  xotvtovc'a,  commixtio  and  communio),  requires 
indeed,  some  actual  contact  with  the  vivifying 
power.  A  bond  of  physical  descent  connected 
the  generations  of  man  with  Adam.  What  link 
of  personal  connection  could  unite  him  with  the 
Logos  ?  The  historic  example  was  indeed  reflected 
in  the  Gospels,  and  the  imitatio  Christi  was  open 
to  all  beUevers.  But  by  what  means  could  the 
benefits  of  his  cross  and  resurrection  be  imparted? 
To  the  spirits  of  the  past  he  might  preach  in  the 
world  below,  and  the  faithful  might  follow  him 

^  Adv.  Hares.,  V,  praef.,  "factus  est  quod  sumus  nos,  uti  nos 
perficeret  esse  quod  est  ipse."  Here  is  the  anticipation  of  the 
daring  language  of  Athanasius  "God  was  made  man  that  man 
might  be  made  God." 

'  Ibid.,  IV,  xxAiii,  4,  x"/'^*''"  "s  ^^^f- 


128       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

into  freedom  and  light.  But  death  was  not  abol- 
ished upon  earth.  Where  was  the  assurance  that 
the  Christian  would  live  again  and  share  the 
eternity  of  God?  The  answer  is  found  in  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Holy  Spirit,  through  which  the 
union  would  begin  at  once.  Had  not  the  Spirit 
descended  at  the  baptism  on  the  Son  of  God  made 
Son  of  man,  to  become  accustomed  by  fellowship 
with  him  to  dwell  in  himiankind,  and  bring  us 
out  of  our  old  estate  into  the  newness  of  Christ?^ 
It  is  the  function  of  the  Church  and  of  the  sacra- 
ments thus  to  communicate  immortality.*  By 
their  agency  Christians  are  already  vivified;  the 
gift  of  incorruption  has  been  already  bestowed; 
even  here  they  have  become  partakers  of  the 
divine  nature.  The  future  glows  before  them  with 
transcendent  glory.  So  good  a  Scripturalist  looks 
for  the  appearance  of  Antichrist,  the  victory  of  the 
saints,  their  reign  on  earth,  the  splendour  of  a  new 
Jerusalem.  But  he  does  not  end  upon  that  scenic 
note.  Behind  the  jewelled  walls  and  the  cluster- 
ing vines  he  discerns  "many  mansions"  for  differ- 
ent grades  of  the  saved.  He  sees  them  rising  from 
the  city  to  paradise,  from  paradise  to  heaven. 
Through  the  spirit  they  ascend  to  the  Son,  though 
indeed  the  Saviour  ^  shall  be  seen  everywhere  in 
proportion  to  their  capacity  of  vision,  and  through 
the  Son  to  the  Father,  till  the  last  enemy  is  van- 
quished and  Death  himself  is  compelled  to  die. 

'  Adv.  Hares.,  III.  xvii,  i.  ^  See  Lectures  III  and  IV. 

J  Or  God,  according  to  different  texts,  Greek  and  Latin. 


The  Person  and  Work  of  the  Saviour  1 29 

Then,  when  at  length  God  is  "all  in  all,"  shall  his 
mysteries  be  accomplished  and  his  wisdom  per- 
fected. His  creature  man  shall  share  the  form 
and  body  of  his  Son;  the  first  begotten  Word  had 
submitted  to  descend  to  man  and  be  contained 
by  him;  then  shall  man  once  more  contain  the 
Word;  rising  above  the  angels  he  shaU  ascend  to 
him,  and  realize  the  image  and  likeness  of  God. ' 

Note  A,  p.  67 

THE   ANGELIC   POWERS 

The  ordinary  reader  of  the  letters  of  St.  Paul  prob- 
ably does  not  realize  the  meaning  of  his  allusions  to 
the  Angelic  Powers  in  the  worlds  above.  The  later 
Jewish  Cosmology,  following  the  Babylonian,  sup- 
posed that  above  the  visible  sky  there  rose  seven 
heavens.  This  view  was  widely  spread  through  West- 
ern Asia  (cp.  Bousset,  "Die  Himmel-Reise  der  Seele," 
Archiv.  fiir  Religionsunssenschaft,  1 901,  p.  167).  Rab- 
binical accounts  will  be  found  in  Chagiga,  12^;  Bab. 
Talmud.,  ed.  Goldschmidt,  iii,  p.  820;  Midrash  Bere- 
shith  Rabba,  xix,  on  Gen.  iii,  8  (tr.  Wiinsche,  p.  84). 
In  the  Secrets  of  Enoch,  originally  written  in  Greek 
(tr.  Morfill  and  ed.  Charles,  1896),  Enoch  describes 
his  ascent  through  the  successive  spheres,  iii-xxi. 
These  upper  worlds  were  tenanted  by  numerous  ranks 
of  superhuman  powers,  of  mingled  character  (cp. 
Lect.  I,  p.  17).  The  Apostle  Paul  calls  them  "Angels, 
Principalities,  Powers,"  Rom.  viii,  38;  "Principal- 
ities [R.  V.  "rule"],  Authorities,  and  Powers,"  i  Cor.  xv, 
24;  "  Principahties,   Authorities,    Powers,  Dominions 

^  Adv.  Hccres.,  V,  x.xxvi,  conclusion. 
9 


130       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

[lit.  Lordships],"  Ephes.  i,  21,  cp.  vi,  12;  "Thrones, 
Dominions  [Lordships],  Principahties,  Powers,"  Col. 
i,  1 6.  These  names  all  occur  in  the  Jewish  Apocalyptic 
literature,  e.  g.  Ethiopic  Enoch,  Ixi,  10;  Secrets  oj Enoch, 
XX,  i;  Testaments  of  the  Twelve  Patriarchs,  "Levi,"  iii, 
8.  Ephes.  iii,  12,  shows  that  they  occupied  "the 
heavenlies,"  and  that  they  wrought  wickedness  in 
the  world  below,  so  that  the  Christian  must  wage 
constant  warfare  against  them.  In  particular  the 
Apostle  charges  the  "World-rulers"  with  having 
brought  about  the  death  of  the  Messiah  (i  Cor.  ii,  8); 
and  predicts  that  they  will  in  their  turn  be  "brought 
to  nought"  and  so  rendered  powerless  (R.  V.  "abol- 
ished, "  I  Cor.  XV,  24)  by  him.  At  a  later  date  the 
Apostle  extends  to  them  also  the  benefits  of  the  great 
reconciliation  by  the  cross  {Col.  i,  20). 

Note  B,  p.  73 

THE  SO-CALLED  ADOPTIANIST  CHRISTOLOGY 

Two  types  of  Christologic  doctrine  are  already 
clearly  marked  in  the  New  Testament.  In  Mark  i, 
10,  the  best  texts  represent  the  Spirit  as  descending 
into  Jesus;  the  divine  voice  then  greets  him:  "Thou 
art  my  beloved  Son,  in  thee  have  I  made  my  choice" 
(in  accordance  with  the  tense  of  the  Greek  verb). 
The  Baptism  is  the  moment  at  which  the  Messiah 
(or  Anointed)  receives  the  unction  of  the  Spirit. 
Jesus  is  thus  a  man  chosen  for  this  high  vocation, 
and  divinely  equipped  for  it  by  the  entry  of  the  Spirit 
into  him.  In  Luke  iii,  22,  D  reads,  "Thou  art  my 
Son,  this  day  have  I  begotten  thee,"  and  this  reading 
continued  in  the  Church  till  the  fourth  century. 
Borrowing  the  name  from  a  much  later  controversy 


The  Person  and  Work  of  the  Saviour  131 

in  Spain,  Harnack  has  designated  this  elementary 
Christology  "Adoptian."  It  implies  that  Jesus  was 
selected  to  be  the  bearer  of  the  Spirit,  and  that  after 
being  duly  tested  by  temptation  and  suffering  he  was 
raised  to  the  exalted  rank  of  Lord  and  Christ  in  heaven. 
Cp.  the  language  ascribed  to  Peter  in  Acts  ii,  36,  and 
X,  38.  Traces  of  this  view  are  to  be  found  in  Rome 
at  the  end  of  the  second  century;  "it  continued  here 
and  there  undisturbed  up  to  the  middle  of  the  third 
century,  and  it  continued  to  exercise  great  influence 
even  in  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries."^  In  its  later 
forms  it  was  combined  with  fresh  elements,  and  lost 
its  early  simplicity.  Contrasted  with  this  is  the 
conception  of  a  spiritual  "Son  of  God"  who  was  sent 
forth  to  be  born  in  Jesus,  who  occupied  his  human 
person,  and  returned  at  Jesus'  death  to  his  former 
home  on  high.  This  conception  belongs  in  different 
modes  to  St.  Paul  and  the  author  of  the  fourth  Gospel, 
and  finally  established  itself  in  the  heart  of  Christian 
orthodoxy.  To  this  type  Harnack  has  given  the 
name  Pneumatic.  The  conflict  between  the  two, 
which  begins  in  the  Apostolic  age,  constitutes  the 
chief  theme  of  the  early  history  of  doctrine. 

Note  C,  pp.  85  and  90 

THE  APOLOGISTS 

The  defence  of  Christianity  is  already  begun  in  the 
literature  of  the  New  Testament ;  but  the  writings  of 
the  Apologists  of  the  second  century  were  specially 
designed  to  vindicate  it  on  the  one  hand  before  the 
authorities  of  the  Roman  Empire,  the  Imperial  rulers, 

'Harnack,  Hiil.  of  Dogma  (Eng.  trans.),  Vol.  i,  p.  191'. 


132       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

the  Senate  and  the  people,  or  to  the  Jews  whose 
Scriptures  the  Church  had  adopted.  Much  of  the 
literature  thus  produced  has  perished.  It  begins 
formally  with  the  presentation  of  two  Apologies  to 
Hadrian  at  Athens  (according  to  Eusebius,  Hist.  EccL, 
IV,  iii,  and  Chron.)  in  the  year  125  by  Quadratus  and 
Aristides.  The  work  of  Quadratus  is  no  longer 
extant.  A  Syriac  version  of  the  Apology  of  Aristides 
was  discovered  at  Mount  Sinai  by  Prof.  Rendel  Harris, 
in  1889,  and  published  in  the  Cambridge  Texts  and 
Studies,  Vol.  i.  Prof.  J.  Armitage  Robinson  then 
proved  that  the  original  Greek  had  been  incorporated 
in  the  Christian  romance  (founded  on  Buddhist  legend) 
known  as  The  Life  of  Barlaam  and  Josaphat  (probably 
belonging  to  the  eighth  century).  On  grounds  of 
similarity  of  style  and  argumentative  purpose  it  has 
been  proposed  to  associate  it  with  the  letter  to  Diogne- 
tus  usually  included  in  the  Apostolic  Fathers.  Diog- 
netus  is  then  identified  with  the  philosopher  of  that 
name  who  was  tutor  to  Marcus  Aurelius.  The  second 
superscription  of  the  Syriac  version  mentions  Anto- 
ninus (after  specifying  Hadrian),  and  Prof.  Harris 
prefers  the  early  years  of  his  reign  (138-161  a.d.). 

Justin,  commonly  known  as  the  Martyr,  born  at 
Flavia  Neapolis  (modern  Nablous)  in  Samaria  about 
100  A.D.,  wrote  two  Apologies,  apparently  in  the  reign 
of  Antoninus  Pius,  and  the  Dialogue  with  the  Jew 
Trypho.  Tradition  relates  that  he  was  martyred  at 
Rome.  Various  dates  from  148  to  163  or  even  later 
have  been  assigned  to  his  death. 

Tatian,  of  Eastern  origin,  composed  a  Adyoq  xpbq 
'EXX'^vaq,  probably  at  Rome,  between  152  and 
172. 


The  Person  and  Work  of  the  Saviour  133 

Athenagoras,  of  Athens,  drew  up  a  discourse  under 
the  title  Ilpsj^eta  r.sg\  XpiaTtavwv,  addressed  to  Marcus 
AureHus  and  Commodus,  i.e.,  after  176  and  before  180. 

Theophilus  (placed  by  Eusebius  at  Antioch)  UTote 
three  books  addressed  to  Autolycus,  and  in  the  third 
mentions  the  death  of  Marcus  Aurelius  (180). 

Other  writers  of  this  period  with  the  same  apologetic 
aim  were  Melito,  Bishop  of  Sardis,  Apollinaris,  Bishop 
of  Hierapolis,  and  a  rhetorician  named  Miltiades. 

In  Latin  the  Octavius  of  Minucius  Felix  was  prob- 
ably written  in  the  reign  of  Marcus  Aurelius.  Ter- 
tullian  followed  at  Carthage  at  the  end  of  the  century 
with  a  series  of  works  of  kindred  purpose,  the  Apolo- 
geticus  being  addressed  to  the  rulers  of  the  Roman 
Empire  (197-8). 

Note  D,  p.  no 

(^TYPES  OF  MONARCHIANISM 

The  term  "Monarchy"  appears  first  in  theological 
literatiire  as  the  title  or  subject  of  a  letter  written  by 
Irenaeus  to  a  Roman  presbyter  named  Florinus,  who 
(like  Irenaeus  himself)  had  been  a  disciple  of  Polycarp. 
Eusebius  {Hist.  Eccl.,  V,  xx,  i)  appends  as  an  explana- 
tion "or  that  God  is  not  the  Author  of  Evil."  The 
application  of  the  term  here  is  different  from  its 
technical  use  a  little  later  in  the  interpretation  of  the 
nature  of  the  Deity.  "People  are  constantly  throw- 
ing out  against  us,"  said  Tertullian  {Adv.  Prax.,  iii) 
"that  we  are  preachers  of  two  Gods  or  three  Gods, 
while  they  take  to  themselves  pre-eminently  the 
credit  of  being  worshippers  of  one  God.  'We,'  say 
they,    'maintain    the    Monarchy.'  "     The    develop- 


134       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

ment  of  the  Logos-Chrlstology  in  fact  awakened  con- 
siderable resistance  in  the  East,  and  those  who  did 
not  receive  the  doctrine  were  dubbed  Alogi.  They 
did  not  constitute  a  sect,  they  had  no  leaders  and 
were  not  organized,  they  represented  a  more  or  less 
articulate  protest  on  behalf  of  an  older  conception 
of  the  person  of  Christ.  In  relation  to  Jesus  Monar- 
chianism  took  two  very  different  forms:  (i)  that  he 
was  endowed  with  a  Dynamis  or  Power  of  Holy  Spirit 
which  constituted  him  Son  of  God;  (2)  that  God  him- 
self was  fully  present  in  Christ,  which  seemed  to  in- 
volve the  consequence  that  the  Father  himself  suffered 
upon  the  cross,  its  supporters  being  nicknamed  Patri- 
passians.  Loofs  has  distinguished  the  first  type  as 
Dynamist  Monarchianism,  and  the  second  as  Modal- 
ist  Monarchianism.^ 

(i)  The  first  of  these  two  types  was  immediately 
identified  with  the  Ebionite  heresy.  Its  exponent  at 
Rome  towards  the  end  of  the  second  century  was  a 
leather-worker  named  Theodotus,^  who  came  from 
Byzantium,  believing  himself  to  be  a  true  CathoHc. 
Hippolytus  regarded  him  as  a  remnant  of  the  Alogi. 
Whatever  his  trade,  he  was  highly  educated,  "su- 
preme in  Greek  culture,  very  learned  in  science."  In 
breadth  of  view  and  general  practice  he  was  wholly 
unlike  the  Ebionites;  he  accepted  the  Rule  of  Faith, 
and  admitted  the  Virgin-birth;  but  he  denied  that 
Jesus  was  in  any  way  a  pre-existent  heavenly  being; 
he  was  endowed  with  power  by  the  Spirit  at  his  bap- 

'  Leitfaden  zum  Studiuni  der  Dogmengeschichte  (1906),  p.  182  ff. 
The  "Dynamist  Monarchians"  are  Hamack's  Adoptianists. 

'He  is  designated  o-KureiJs,  usually  rendered  "cobbler,"  but 
the  description  of  his  learning  suggests  a  man  of  some  means. 


The  Person  and  Work  of  the  Saviour  135 

tism.  Bishop  Victor  promptly  excommunicated  him 
(before  199  a.d.)  for  declaring  Christ  a  mere  man 
{'\)ikoq  avOpwzoq).  He  had  many  followers,  who  were 
strong  enough  to  form  a  church  under  Zephyrinus 
(Victor's  successor),  and  appointed  a  bishop  at  a 
monthly  salary  of  150  denarii  (about  £5), — the  first 
recorded  instance  of  episcopal  pay.  An  anonymous 
writer  (quoted  by  Eusebius,  Hist.  EccL,  V,  xx)  describes 
their  procedure  with  great  bitterness.  They  com- 
pared copies  of  the  Scriptures  and  corrected  the  text 
(or,  as  their  critic  affirms,  corrupted  it).  They  in- 
sisted on  rational  exegesis,  and  set  aside  allegorical 
interpretation.  They  studied  Aristotle  and  not 
Plato,  they  devoted  themselves  to  geometry  and  Euclid 
(i.  e.  mathematics  and  logic) ,  and  thought  so  much  of 
Galen  that  some  were  even  said  to  worship  him.  Here 
was  a  kind  of  scientific  rationalism.  None  of  their 
writings  survive,  but  a  few  special  cases  are  quoted. 
The  Church  had  early  seen  a  prediction  of  Jesus  in  the 
language  of  Deut.  xviii,  15,  "a  prophet  shall  he  raise 
up  like  unto  me";  Jesus,  therefore,  like  Moses,  was 
human.'  This  type  of  Monarchianism  was  continued 
a  little  later  by  Artemon  (or  Artemas),  who  seems 
to  have  been  still  alive  in  270  a.d.^  According  to 
the  anonymous  author  cited  by  Eusebius,  Artemon 
boldly  affirmed  that  this  was  the  original  apostolic 
doctrine,  and  had  prevailed  at  Rome  itself  until  the 
days  of  Victor.  Such  hold  did  it  retain  in  the  West 
that  Augustine  supposed  it  to  be  Catholic  teaching 
before  his  conversion  {Confessions,  vii,  19  [25]). 

'  Epiphanius,  Hcer.,  liv,  3. 

'  The  bishops  who  denounce  Paul  of  Samosata,  Bishop  of 
Antiocli  and  minister  of  Queen  Zenobia,  suggest  that  he  should 
write  to  Artemas,  Euseb.,  Hist.  EccL,  VII,  x.x.x,  17. 


136       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

(2)  Dynamist  Monarchianism  was  only  one  aspect  of 
an  attempt  to  preserve  the  conception  of  the  unity 
of  the  Godhead  in  contrast  with  that  of  a  pluraHty 
of  xp(5awxa  or  personce  within  it.  Modalist  Monarchi- 
anism sought  the  same  end  by  another  path,  first 
associated  with  the  names  of  Praxeas  and  Noetus, 
both  of  Asia  Minor.  But  its  most  distinguished  re- 
presentative was  SabelHus.  Its  importance  is  shown 
by  the  pains  taken  by  Athanasius  and  other  writers 
of  the  fourth  century  to  combat  it.  Basil  of  Cassarea 
(329-79)  put  the  birthplace  of  SabelHus  in  the  Penta- 
polis  on  the  west  of  Egypt.  What  influences  helped 
to  shape  his  theology  we  do  not  know,  but  he  became 
a  leader  among  the  Monarchians  in  Rome  during  the 
episcopate  of  Zephyrinus,  about  215  a.d.  Callistus 
after  his  accession  to  the  bishop's  chair  (217)  excom- 
municated him.  How  long  he  remained  in  Rome,  and 
what  ultimately  befell  him,  is  not  known.  No  writings 
bearing  his  name  have  survived;  his  doctrines  must 
be  inferred  from  the  statements  of  critics  and  oppo- 
nents. The  central  proposition  of  his  teaching  was 
that  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit  were  the  same 
(Harnack,  Hist,  of  Dogma,  iii,  p.  84).  They  were 
three  names  for  one  and  the  same  Being,  three  aspects 
under  which  he  was  apprehended,  or  manifested  him- 
self. The  orthodox  conception  of  three  Persons  (in 
Tertullian's  sense)  seemed  to  involve  polytheism. 
"Have  we  three  Gods,  or  one?"  asked  his  followers. 
To  avoid  such  an  inference  SabelHus  coined  the  awk- 
ward word  uloxaTtop  (Son-Father)  to  prevent  the  sup- 
position that  these  were  two  distinct  beings.  God 
was  not  both  these  characters  at  once,  they  represented 
a  historic  development.  The  Deity  put  forth  three 
successive  energies.    In  the  Old  Testament  he  appeared 


The  Person  and  Work  of  the  Saviour  137 

as  Creator  and  Lawgiver,  i.  e.,  as  Father;  in  Christ  as 
Son  and  Redeemer;  in  the  Church  as  Spirit,  giver  and 
sustainer  of  Hfe.  The  Old  Testament  contained  no 
mention  of  the  Son  of  God;  the  function  of  Sonship 
was  only  temporary,  lasting  from  the  Incarnation  to 
the  Ascension,  after  which  the  manifestation  of  Deity 
assumed  the  form  of  Spirit.  Here  was  a  Trinity  of 
Revelation.  It  doubtless  involved  all  kinds  of  diffi- 
culties :  did  God  cease  to  be  Creator  and  Father  when 
he  took  the  character  of  Son?  What  became  of  the 
humanity  of  Jesus,  united  with  the  Son,  when  that 
manifestation  ended?  Finally,  it  would  seem,  the 
divine  unity  would  be  re-established,  when  God  as 
the  ultimate  Monad  should  be  all  in  all  (cp.  Origen, 
below,  Lect.  VI). 


LECTURE  III 

THE  CHURCH  AS  THE  SPHERE  OF 
SALVATION 

THE  earliest  written  records  of  Christianity — 
the  letters  of  the  Apostle  Paul — present  it  as 
realized  in  certain  communities  in  city  and  district 
from  land  to  land.  They  bear  the  name  of 
churches,  and  may  be  described  locally  as  the 
churches  of  Judcea  or  Galatia,  or  the  church  of 
the  Thessalonians.  But  they  may  also  be  viewed 
in  relation  to  a  larger  whole,  the  Church  of  God; 
and  any  specific  society  may  then  be  designated  by 
the  name  of  the  scene  of  its  activity,  such  as  ' '  the 
church  of  God  which  is  in  Corinth. "  The  Greek 
term  ecclesia  denoted  in  classical  usage  the  public 
assembly  of  the  free  city-state,  charged  with 
supreme  powers  of  government.  The  translators 
of  the  Old  Testament  had  employed  it  to  render 
one  of  the  characteristic  terms  of  the  Deuteronomic 
legislators,  qahal,  the  "assembly"  of  the  people  of 
Israel  in  its  national  or  civil  aspect,'  contrasted 
with  the  religious  organization  depicted  in  the 
Priestly  Code  under  the  title  edhah  or  "congrega- 
tion"  (R.  V.).^     By  what  process  the  Christian 

^  Deut.  V,  22;  ix,  lo;  x,  14;  xviii,  16;  xxxi,  30. 
'  Exod.  xii,  3;  altogether  in  the  Priestly  Code  125  times. 
138 


The  Church  as  Sphere  of  Salvation  139 

associations  acquired  this  title  is  unknown. '  The 
Greek  equivalent  of  the  priestly  word  was  syna- 
goge,  and  as  this  term  had  been  already  ap- 
propriated to  denote  the  Jewish  worshipping 
communities  and  their  meeting-houses,  the  Christ- 
ian gatherings,  anxious  to  vindicate  their  claim  to 
be  the  true  Israel,  the  heirs  of  the  promises,  may 
have  adopted  the  other  designation  sanctioned 
by  the  Law  for  the  past  and  by  Prophecy  for 
the  future.^ 

The  members  of  these  assemblies  bore  a  peculiar 
character.  They  had  answered  a  summons,  they 
had  responded  to  a  great  invitation,  they  were  the 
"called  of  Jesus  Christ."  By  this  act  they  had 
separated  themselves  from  the  world,  and  become 
hallowed  in  Christ.  Consecrated  to  his  service, 
they  entered  a  new  obedience;  endowed  with  a 
fresh  being,  they  were  no  more  their  own,  they 
belonged  to  a  heavenly  Lord.  That  august  rela- 
tionship determined  the  standard  of  thought  and 
feehng  and  action.  All  intelligence,  all  emotion, 
all  impulse,  all  endeavour,  were  pledged  to  an 
unseen  Master.  It  was  for  this  that  they  had 
been  foreknown  by  God,  and  foreordained  to  wear 
the  form  of  his  Son's  image;  for  this  they  had  been 
made  righteous,  and  would  be  invested  hereafter 

'  For  reasons  why  it  is  not  carried  back  to  Jesus  himself  see 
Note  A,  p.  209. 

2  The  term  is  only  rarely  found  in  Greek  inscriptions,  e.g.  in 
Delos,  of  the  business  meeting  of  the  Heraklcists;  in  Samos, 
of  the  a\£i4>6fjLei'oi;  and  once  of  a  village  yepovaLa.  Poland,  Gesch. 
des  Cricchischen  Vereinsivcsens  (1909),  p.  332. 


140       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

with  a  radiant  body  like  their  Saviour's.^  The 
Church,  then,  was  the  sphere  in  which  the  process 
of  salvation  was  accomplished.  There  was  no 
other  foundation  on  which  any  one  could  build 
but  Jesus  Christ.^  It  was,  indeed,  wide  enough 
for  all,  for  women  as  for  men,  for  Greek  and  bar- 
barian as  for  the  long-descended  Jew,  for  slave  as 
well  as  freeman;  God  was  no  respecter  of  persons. 
But  over  against  the  Church  stood  the  World, 
under  the  sway  of  the  Prince  of  the  Power  of  the 
Air.  3  Either  this  kingdom  or  that !  There  was  no 
alternative.  Salvation  was  only  possible  within 
the  Church.  The  principle  is  already  implicitly 
involved,  Extra  Ecdesiam  ?mUa  salus. 

To  the  first  believers  this  seemed  a  self-evident 
fact  of  religious  experience.  They  had  heard 
the  Word,  and  had  received  its  gifts.  The  faith 
which  was  born  in  their  hearts  had  opened  to  them 
a  heavenly  fellowship.  In  baptism  they  had  been 
mystically  identified  with  the  death  and  resur- 
rection of  the  Crucified.''  A  new  life  had  been 
communicated  to  them,  which  bore  within  it  the 
promise  of  immortality.  They  all  shared  the 
same  spirit;  they  were  all  animated  by  a  common 
hope ;  they  obeyed  the  same  Lord ;  they  looked  up 
to  the  same  God  and  Father  of  all  who  was  over  all 
and  through  all  and  in  all.  They  possessed  certain 
common  traditions;  their  worship  was  founded  on 
the  same  general  elements  of  praise  and  prayer,  of 

'  Rom.  viii,  29-30;  Phil,  iii,  21.  "  i  Cor.  iii,  11. 

3  Ephes.  ii,  2.  4  Cp.  Lect.  IV. 


The  Church  as  Sphere  of  Salvation  141 

prophecy  and  teaching;  they  united  in  the  same 
meal  as  a  symbol  of  brotherly  love;  they  broke 
the  same  bread  and  drank  out  of  the  same  cup  to 
"show  forth  the  Lord's  death  "  till  he  should  arrive 
from  the  skies ;  they  cherished  a  common  standard 
of  conduct  in  the  "mind  of  Christ";  they  awaited 
the  same  judgment  and  looked  for  the  same  acquit- 
tal; they  anticipated  the  same  privilege  of  associ- 
ation in  the  reign  of  the  triumphant  Messiah; 
they  would  have  part  in  the  great  victory  over 
corruption  and  death.  All  this  was  involved  in 
the  translation  of  which  they  were  immediately 
conscious  out  of  the  Power  of  Darkness  into  the 
kingdom  of  the  Son  of  God's  love. 

The  communities  thus  planted  on  the  confession 
"Jesus  is  Lord"  and  the  heartfelt  belief  that  God 
had  raised  him  from  the  dead'  had  no  external 
bond  of  union.  Each  was  a  centre  of  independent 
activity.  No  one  church  possessed  rule  over 
any  other.  Paul  might  counsel  and  exhort;  he 
might  rebuke  and  denounce;  he  might  pour  out 
hot  words  of  wrath  and  condemnation;  but  he 
claimed  no  dominion  over  his  converts'  faith; 
only  when  he  could  produce  some  "word  of  the 
Lord"  did  he  appeal  to  a  final  authority  in  belief 
or  practice.  Yet  the  churches  were  not  left 
wholly  to  themselves.  The  Apostle  was  tenderly 
concerned  for  the  welfare  of  his  congregations. 
The  ties  created  by  his  first  preaching  were  main- 
tained by  subsequent  visits,  by  the  mission  of 

'  Rom.  X,  9. 


142       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

confidential  disciples,  by  frequent  correspondence, 
his  letters  being  sometimes  communicated  to 
adjoining  churches.  Grateful  believers  filled  his 
heart  with  joy  by  unexpected  gifts  to  relieve  his 
personal  need.  Travelling  teachers  passed  to  and 
fro  receiving  an  ever-ready  hospitality.  And  one 
bond  could  not  remain  unrecognized.  Achaia 
might  owe  no  allegiance  to  Judcca ;  Corinth  might 
work  out  its  own  destiny  without  yielding  to 
Jerusalem.  But  there  was  the  scene  in  which 
the  great  purpose  of  God  upon  the  cross  had  been 
actually  fulfilled;  there  the  first  witness  was  borne 
to  the  Messiah's  resurrection;  there  the  call 
to  repentance  had  been  first  sounded  by  his 
chosen  Apostles;  there  his  own  brother  guided 
the  fortunes  of  the  primitive  community;  there 
Paul  himself  had  been  accepted  as  the  preacher 
of  the  Gospel  to  those  outside  Israel's  limits, 
while  Peter  proclaimed  it  within  their  ancient 
race.  The  appeal  of  such  a  church  for  help  for 
its  poor  constituted  a  claim  and  imposed  a  duty 
which  the  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles  was  eager 
to  fulfil.  In  the  stress  which  he  laid  on  the 
collection  from  the  churches  in  Greece  he  re- 
vealed his  sense  of  what  they  all  owed  to  the 
actual  source  of  their  being.  They  might  manage 
their  own  affairs  unhampered  by  superior  control, 
but  thankfulness  and  trust  and  love  made  them 
all  one. 

Above  this  link  of  actual  circumstance  imagi- 
nation readily  soared  into  an  ideal  realm.      The 


The  Church  as  Sphere  of  Salvation  143 

activities  by  v/hich  the  churches  were  founded 
and  their  interior  life  was  supported  took  many 
forms.  The  missionary  preacher,  the  man  of 
exalted  vision,  the  teacher  who  knew  the  sacred 
traditions,  the  healer  who  could  cast  out  demons 
and  work  cures,  the  speaker  with  tongues  and  his 
interpreter,  the  administrator  who  shared  in  the 
practical  arrangements  of  worship,  of  care  for  the 
poor  and  sick,  or  provision  for  guests, — all  wrought 
in  virtue  of  a  common  energy.  Their  functions 
might  be  different,  but  the  source  of  their  effective- 
ness was  the  same.  In  the  language  of  religion 
their  various  services  were  the  manifestations  of 
the  Spirit,  which  operated  through  them  and 
blended  their  activities  into  one  harmony.  As  the 
Spirit  might  be  equated  with  the  Lord,^  the 
believer  was  thus  personally  identified  with  Christ, 
who  lived  within  him  as  the  inspiring  force  of  his 
new  life.  From  church  to  church  this  wondrous 
experience  was  repeated.  These  manifold  diver- 
sities found  their  unity  in  the  figure  of  a  vast  body 
of  Christ  of  which  individual  believers  were  the 
limbs.  ^  They  thus  formed  an  interrelated  whole. 
There  was  no  separate  salvation,  no  solitary 
deliverance;  in  owning  allegiance  to  Christ  they 
entered  a  fellowship  where  others  not  only  wel- 
comed but  upheld  them,  and  where  they,  too,  in 
their  turn  might  bring  fresh  gifts  to  support  and 
cheer  the  common  life.  To  receive  and  to  bestow 
was   thus   a   constant   privilege   and   a   constant 

'  2  Cor.  iii,  18.  J  I  Cor.  xii,  27. 


144       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

duty.^  Every  word  of  truth  and  every  act  of 
love  had  more  than  a  personal  significance.  They 
were  the  signs  of  the  presence  of  the  heavenly  Lord. 
Each  local  congregation  (to  use  another  image)  was 
a  miniature  of  the  ancient  prophetic  conception  of 
the  virgin  of  Israel,  to  be  presented  in  maiden  pur- 
ity for  espousal  to  Christ."  And  the  generaliz- 
ation of  the  whole  suggested  the  ineffable  mystery 
of  the  entire  Church  united  in  bridal  to  the  Messiah 
on  high.^ 

This  conception,  however,  might  be  yet  further 
idealized.  An  ancient  mode  of  thought  (which 
may  be  traced  back  to  Babylonia)  conceived  the 
hallowed  things  of  earth  as  copies  or  representa- 
tions of  the  reaUties  of  heaven.  As  King  Gudea 
had  built  his  sanctuary  after  the  design  of  a  temple 
on  high,  so  Moses  prepared  the  sacred  DwelHng  to 
match  the  pattern  shown  to  him  on  the  Mount.  ^ 
The  worlds  above  contained  the  celestial  counter- 

'  On  "  The  Idea  of  the  Universal  Community, "  see  the  remark- 
able lecture  of  Prof.  Royce,  in  The  Problem  of  Christianity 
(1913).  Vol.  i,  p.  47. 

*  2  Cor.  xi,  2. 

3  Ephes.  vi,  23-32.  The  prophetic  imagery  {Hos.  ii,  16; 
Is.  Ixii,  5)  had  already  suggested  the  application  of  the  wedding 
joy  to  the  Messiah  and  his  disciples  in  the  Gospels;  compare 
the  marriage  of  the  Lamb  with  the  Church  in  Rev.  xix,  7-9. 
On  the  iepbs  ydfw^  in  Greek  theology  and  elsewhere  cp.  Famell, 
Cults  of  Greece,  i,  pp.  184,  244;  for  the  ancient  Babylonian  myth- 
ology cp.  Jastrow,  Religion  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria,  pp.  59,  677; 
Zimmern,  Keilinschriften  und  das  Alte  Testament,  srd  ed.  pp.  37i. 
394. 

4  Jeremias,  The  Old  Test,  in  the  Light  of  the  Ancient  East,  i, 
58.     Cp.  Exod.  XXV,  40;  Hebr.  viii,  5. 


The  Church  as  Sphere  of  Salvation  145 

parts  of  the  visible  objects  below.  As  the  Greeks 
knew  an  actual  Olympus  in  Macedonia,'  and  a 
heavenly  Olympus,  home  of  the  gods  above,  so  the 
Jew  beHeved  that  there  was  a  Mount  Zion  beyond 
the  skies,  and  a  Jerusalem  waiting  for  the  hour  when 
it  should  descend  on  to  a  new  earth.  ^  In  the 
fourth  heaven  stood  the  temple,  where  the  ark  of 
the  covenant  was  enshrined,  visible  to  the  seer's 
eye  when  the  temple  doors  were  opened.  Under 
the  altar  in  front  (where  Jewish  imagination  set 
Michael  to  conduct  heavenly  sacrifices  as  High- 
Priest  3)  the  Christian  prophet  heard  the  souls 
of  the  martyrs  cry  from  their  hallowed  refuge 
for  the  avenging  of  their  blood. ''  To  this  order  of 
thought  belong  the  representations  in  the  homily 
known  to  us  as  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  The 
Levitical  institutions  were  only  a  copy  and  shadow 
of  "the  heavenlies. "  No  sacrifices  by  a  human 
priesthood,  even  when  all  the  sacred  furniture 
of  the  Dwelling  was  sprinkled  with  blood  of 
calves  and  goats,  could  permanently  cleanse  the 
worshipper's  conscience.  Another  sacrifice  must 
purify  the  corresponding  objects  in  the  sanctuary 
above,  and  the  strange  picture  emerges  of  the 
Messiah  at  once  victim  and  High-Priest  offering 
himself  once  for  all,  and  passing  through  the 
heavens  with  his  own  blood  cleansing  the  celestial 

'  Cp.  Mackrodt  in  Roscher's  Lexikon,  s.  v. 
'  Cp.  Hebr.  xii,  22.      For  interesting  Rabbinical  illustrations 
of  the  Jerusalem  above  cp.  Wetstein's  note  on  Cal.  iv,  26. 

3  Cp.  Lucken,  Michael  (1898),  p.  30. 

4  Rev.  xxi,  2;  .xi,  19;  vi,  9-10. 


146       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

patterns  on  his  way,  to  take  his  seat  at  the 
right  hand  of  God.'  The  Church  itself  might 
in  this  way  have  its  counterpart  above  in 
the  General  Assembly  of  the  first-born  whose 
names  were  inscribed  in  the  heavenly  register, 
the  "book  of  Hfe  from  the  foundation  of  the 
world.  "^ 

For  in  that  realm  of  the  unseen  the  great  drama 
of  existence  was  already  planned ;  the  stage  for  its 
enactment,  the  central  figure  of  its  plot,  the  final 
scenes  of  its  vast  issue,  were  already  prepared. 
The  Law,  also,  had  its  counterpart  on  high,  a  kind 
of  summary  of  all  possible  relations,  and  into  its 
mysterious  contents  God  had  looked,  said  Jewish 
wisdom,  when  he  would  create  the  universe.  ^ 
There,  too,  was  the  Name  of  the  Messiah,  symbol 
of  his  being,  secret  of  his  power,  the  very  essence 
of  the  might  and  majesty  hereafter  to  be  revealed.  "* 
There  were  Paradise  and  Gehenna,  the  blessed- 
ness of  the  righteous  and  the  torments  of  the 
condemned.  ^  There  was  Moses,  prepared  in  readi- 
ness for  his  high  destiny,  reserved  till  the  hour 

'  Hehr.  v,  14;  ix,  23-28.  =>  Hehr.  xii,  23;  Rev.  xvii,  8. 

3  Midrash  on  Genesis,  Bereshith  Rabba,  p.  i,  Wilnsche. 

4  In  Enoch  xlviii,  3,  the  Messiah  appears  before  the  creation 
of  the  sun  and  stars, 

s  Cp.  Malt.  XXV,  34,  41.  How  readily  Jewish  imagination 
conceived  these  pre-existences  may  be  seen  by  a  curious  example 
in  the  Targum  of  Jonathan.  When  Jacob,  assuming  the  dis- 
guise of  Esau,  carried  the  savoury  meat  to  Isaac,  he  had  no  wine. 
To  complete  the  meal  (Gen.  xxvii,  25)  an  angel  brought  him 
wine  which  had  been  kept  in  its  grapes  from  the  days  of  the 
beginning  of  the  world. 


The  Church  as  Sphere  of  Salvation  147 

for  Israel's  liberation  needed  him.'  There  were 
the  Christians  chosen  in  Christ  before  the  world's 
foundation^;  and  the  mystery  which  was  hid  in 
age-long  secrecy  in  God,  that  Gentile  as  well  as 
Jew  should  freely  share  in  the  benefits  of  the 
Gospel,  and  that  even  the  Principalities  and 
Powers  "in  the  heavenlies" — once  viewed  as 
enemies  to  be  subdued — should  have  their  part 
in  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ.^ 

In  this  realm  of  spiritual  realities  it  was  not 
unnatural  that  the  Church  should  also  have  a 
place.  When  Scripture  said,  "God  made  man 
male  and  female,"  the  homilist  could  identify  the 
male  with  Christ  and  the  female  with  the  Church. '' 
Did  not  ' '  the  books  and  the  Apostles  declare  that 
the  Church  belongs  not  to  the  present,  but  has 
existed  from  the  beginning" ?s  The  Church  was 
spiritual,  created  before  the  sun  and  moon,  but 
was  manifested  in  the  flesh  of  Christ,  that  any 
believer  who  preserved  her  in  the  flesh  without 
corruption  might  receive  her  back  again  in  the  Holy 
Spirit.  The  Church  was  thus  volatilized  into  an 
impalpable  power  whose  essence  was  really  identi- 
cal with  the  quickening  energy  known  as  Spirit. 
In  more  concrete  form  the  Church  appears  to  Her- 
mas  as  an  aged  woman,  robed  in  most  radiant 
vesture,  who  tells  him  that  the  holy  Church  was 

^  Assumption  of  Moses,  i,  14.  *  Ephes.  i,  4. 

3  Ephes.  iii,  1-12.  *  2  Clem.,  xiv,  2-5. 

s  So  Lightfoot  and  Prof.  Lake;  but  Avudev  may  mean  "from 
above,"  as  contrasted  with  the  earthly  present;  cp.  Gal.  iv,  26. 


148       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

created  by  God's  Wisdom  and  Providence  when 
the  world  was  made.  ^  Hermas  supposes  her  to  be 
the  Sibyl  for  he  was  on  the  road  to  Cumae ;  but  he 
subsequently  learns  by  revelation  from  a  very 
beautiful  young  man  in  his  sleep  that  he  was  in 
error,  for  she  was  the  Church, — aged  because  she 
was  created  the  first  of  all  things,  and  for  her  sake 
was  the  world  fabricated.^  In  a  very  elaborate 
parable  near  the  close  of  the  book  the  Holy  Spirit 
which  spoke  with  Hermas  in  the  form  of  the 
Church  is  definitely  identified  with  the  Son  of 
God,  ^  so  fluctuating  and  interchangeable  were 
these  ideal  forms,  so  little  had  the  thought  and 
language  of  theology  attained  clearness  and  pre- 
cision. In  the  latter  part  of  the  century  the 
Christian  Gnostic  Clement  of  Alexandria  desig- 
nates her  as  "the  first-born," ^  the  ideal  assembly 
of  those  enrolled  in  heaven.  In  the  terrible  per- 
secution at  Lyons  in  the  year  177,  when  some 
believers  who  had  recanted  reaffirmed  their  faith, 
the  "virgin  mother"  was  said  to  experience  deep 
joy  at  receiving  back  alive  those  who  had  been 
untimely  born  as  though  dead.^  In  her  presence 
did    Tertullian    recommend    the    candidate    for 

'  Shepherd,  Vis.  I,  ii,  2;  iii,  4.  The  book  is  commonly  placed 
about  148  A.D. 

2  Ibid.,  Vis.  II,  iv,  I.  Later  on  she  appears  less  venerable, 
and  finally  in  a  third  form  young  and  beautiful;  but  these  trans- 
formations do  not  affect  the  main  conception. 

3  Ibid.,  Sim.  IX,  i,  i. 

"  Cp.  Hebr.  xii,  23;  Clem.  Alex.,  ProtrepL,  ix,  §  82^  ed.  Stahlin. 
s  Euseb.,  Hist.  Eccles.,  V,  i,  45. 


The  Church  as  Sphere  of  Salvation  149 

baptism  when  he  came  up  out  of  the  water  to  ad- 
dress his  prayers  for  grace  to  the  Father  and  the 
Lord.'  The  parallel  between  the  earthly  and  the 
heavenly  humanity  in  which  Christ  appeared 
as  the  second  Adam,  assigned  to  the  Church  the 
part  of  a  second  Eve,  created  out  of  Christ's  rib, 
without  spot  or  blemish.''  The  Valentinian 
Gnostics  set  Ecclesia  beside  Anthropos  (man) 
as  the  product  of  the  union  of  Logos  and  Zoe,  the 
Word  and  Life.^  Catholic  and  heretic  could  thus 
express  the  same  essential  idea  in  different  ways. 
The  Church  was  the  "Virgin  Daughter  of  light," 
the  Lady  that  revealed  the  hidden  mysteries,  the 
Secret  Mother,  who  might  be  invited  to  share 
the  Eucharist  and  the  Love-feast  (Agape)  with  the 
believers  who  assembled  at  her  call."*  Just  as  the 
conception  of  the  pre-existence  of  the  IMessiah, 
when  applied  to  Jesus  as  the  Christ,  the  Saviour 
and  the  Son  of  God,  exalted  his  dignity  before 
creation,  so  did  the  ideal  of  the  Church,  the  pre- 
cosmic  impersonation  of  the  agency  of  salvation, 

'  De  Baptismo,  xx.  In  his  Address  to  the  Martyrs,  i,  he  calls 
her  Domina  (=Kyria). 

"  Acta  Petri  et  Pauli,  xxix,  ed.  Lipsius  (1891),  p.  192. 

3  Iren.,  Adv.  Hares.,  I,  i,  i.  See  an  article  by  Dr.  F.  C. 
Conybeare  in  the  Archiv.  fiir.  Relig.  Wissenschaft,  1906,  p.  73, 
translated  from  an  Address  privately  printed  in  the  Abstract  of 
Proceedings  of  the  Society  of  Historical  Theology,  1902-3,  on 
"The  Virgin  Church  and  the  Virgin  Mother, a  Study  of  the  Origin 
of  Mariolatry, "  where  much  rare  material  from  later  Armenian 
sources  is  collected. 

*Acta  Apostolorum  Apocryplia,  ed.  Bonnet,  II,  ii  (1903)1  §50. 
p.  166. 


150       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

enhance  the  significance  of  those  who  came  to  be 
charged  with  the  teaching  of  its  truth  and  the 
appHcation  of  its  sacraments. 

The  estabHshment  of  new  churches  was  the 
work  of  the  missionary  preachers,  who  carried 
the  Gospel  from  place  to  place,  and  gathered  the 
first  converts  into  small  congregations  of  believers. 
These  missionaries  bore  the  title  of  Apostles,  or 
"messengers. "  It  is  applied  in  the  Gospels  to  the 
twelve  disciples  selected  by  Jesus  to  aid  him  in 
preaching  the  "good  news"  that  the  Kingdom  of 
God  had  come  near.  ^  The  name  had  been  already 
in  use  in  a  different  connection  for  persons  deputed 
by  the  authorities  at  Jerusalem  to  carry  letters  on 
matters  of  Jewish  practice  to  their  co-religionists 
abroad,  or  to  collect  money  for  the  Temple  tribute. 
The  importance  attached  by  the  early  disciples 
to  the  maintenance  of  the  number  Twelve^  is 
indicated  in  the  story  of  the  election  of  a  fresh 
"witness  of  the  resurrection"  to  take  the  place  of 
the  traitor  Judas  when  they  had  reassembled  at 
Jerusalem.  For  Paul  accordingly  they  are  "the 
Twelve,  "3  and  their  pre-eminent  character  is 
acknowledged  by  the  inscription  of  the  names  of 
"the  Twelve  Apostles  of  the  Lamb"  on  the  foun- 

'  Mark  iii,  14,  where  later  texts  add  that  Jesus  himself  desig- 
nated them  Apostles.  Matt,  x,  2,  applies  that  title,  but  does 
not  ascribe  it  to  Jesus.  They  are  sometimes  described  as  "the 
Twelve,"  e.g.  Mark  xiv,  10,  17;  cp.  "the  Ten,"  x,  41. 

^  Possibly  symbolic;  cp.  Matt,  xix,  28;  Luke  xxii,  30. 

•'  I  Cor.  XV,  5.  The  subsequent  reference  to  "all  the  Apostles" 
implies  that  there  were  more.     Cp.  Euseb.,  Hist.  EccL,  I,  xii. 


The  Church  as  Sphere  of  Salvation  151 

dations  of  the  wall  of  the  New  Jerusalem.'  Paul 
himself  felt  that  he  had  been  "called  to  be  an 
apostle  by  the  will  of  God,"='  and  vigorously- 
defended  the  integrity  of  his  own  gospel  against 
any  other  preacher  though  he  were  sent  from 
heaven  itself.^  But  he  no  less  recognizes  others 
as  called  to  the  same  function.  He  sends  a  salu- 
tation to  two  converts  older  than  himself,  An- 
dronicus  and  Junias,  "who  are  of  note  among 
the  apostles"  •*;  he  heads  the  list  of  those  who  serve 
the  Church  by  their  spiritual  gifts  with  apostles 
and  prophets  5;  and  either  he,  or  a  disciple  writ- 
ing in  his  name,  declares  that  these  are  the  ac- 
tual foundation  on  which  the  great  household  of 
God  is  built.  ^ 

By  what  process  a  disciple  was  converted  into 
an  apostle  is  not  precisely  known.  The  mission- 
ary impulse  in  the  early  communities,  when 
enthusiasm  was  fresh  and  hope  was  eager,  was 
undoubtedly  strong.  The  danger  at  Jerusalem 
after  the  death  of  Stephen  drove  away  numbers 
who  had  joined  the  Church,  and  they  carried  the 
Gospel  with  them  beyond  the  limits  of  Palestine 
to  Antioch,  the  brilliant  capital  of  Syria,  the 
cities  of  Phoenicia,  and  Cyprus.  To  Antioch 
Barnabas    was    in    due    time    despatched    from 

'  Rev.  xxi,  14.  '  I  Cor.  i,  i. 

3  Gal.  i,  8.  Cp.  the  i/evSairSaroXoi,  2  Cor.  xi,  13,  who  doubt- 
less felt  their  own  claim  just  as  good. 

*  Rom.  xvi,  7.  Whether  the  term  "kinsmen"  is  to  be  under- 
stood spiritually  or  physically  is  not  clear. 

5 1  Cor.  .xii,  28;  cp.  Ephes.  iv,  11.  *  Ephes.  ii,  20. 


152       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

Jerusalem  in  response  to  the  news  of  the  effective 
formation  of  its  church ;  and  there  he  fetched  Paul 
from  Tarsus  to  aid  him  in  the  service  of  teaching 
the  ever-increasing  number  of  believers.  When 
the  church  there  decided  to  send  forth  mission- 
aries for  more  extended  labour,  it  was  on  these  that 
the  choice  fell  after  fasting  and  prayer  out  of  the 
group  of  prophets  and  teachers.  ^  Such  selection 
was  regarded  as  the  work  of  the  Spirit  under  whose 
guidance  the  churches  lived  and  wrought.^  They 
went  forth  accordingly  as  "apostles, "^  commis- 
sioned by  an  active  and  energetic  body  of  adher- 
ents of  the  new  faith.  Many  another  apostle 
must  have  started  in  the  same  manner  from  other 
centres,  large  or  small.  They  probably  did  not 
undertake  such  responsibilities  without  some 
sanction.  But  their  duty  was  of  the  highest 
importance.  They  were  the  instruments  of  the 
Spirit  in  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  the  first 
and  most  immediate  agents  of  salvation.  What 
burdens  fell  upon  them,  what  dangers  they  faced, 
what  contumely  they  endured,  we  know  from  the 
moving  testimony  of  the  greatest  of  them  all. 
The  love  of  Christ  constrained  them,  and  that 
love  was  of  the  quality  which  could  bear  and  hope 
all  things. 

The  work  of  the  wider  Apostolate  was  not 
confined  to  the  first  generation  of  believers,  or  to 
the  mission  to  the  Gentiles  in  which   Paul  was 

'  Acts  xiii,  1-2.         'Cp.  the  case  of  Timothy,  i  Tim.  i,  i8. 
i  Acts  xiv,  4,  14. 


The  Church  as  Sphere  of  Salvation  153 

the  protagonist.  The  "false  apostles"  whom  he 
denounced  at  Corinth'  may  have  been  sent  by  his 
opponents  with  similar  church-credentials;  like 
the  representatives  of  James  by  whom  he  was 
confronted  at  Antioch.^  There  is  no  need  to 
suppose  that  the  champions  of  the  observance  of 
the  Law  by  Gentile  converts  were  not  sincerely 
desirous  of  spreading  the  Gospel  on  their  own 
conditions.  Neither  party  could  establish  an  ex- 
clusive claim  to  the  dignity  or  the  perils  of  apos- 
tleship.  By  the  opening  of  the  second  century 
(as  the  fourth  Gospel  shows  us)  the  great  contro- 
versy was  practically  over,  and  the  victory  of  Pau- 
line principles  was  complete.  Apostles  still  travel, 
but  the  test  of  their  sincerity  is  new.  Their 
function  was  in  danger  of  becoming  lucrative. 
The  itinerant  missionary  may  still  claim  one  or 
two  nights'  lodging  and  his  food.  "Let  every 
apostle  who  comes  to  you,"  says  the  Teaching  of 
the  Twelve  Apostles,^  "be  received  as  the  Lord,  but 
let  him  not  stay  more  than  one  day,  or  if  need  be  a 
second  as  well;  but  if  he  stay  three  days  he  is  a 
false  prophet."  When  he  starts  out  again  he 
may  accept  bread  for  his  day's  journey;  "but  if  he 
ask  for  money,  he  is  a  false  prophet."  He  passes 
out  of  view,  already  exposed  to  declension  from 
the  purity  of  the  first  ideal.  But  who  shall 
estimate  the  value  of  his  labours !  With  no  central 
direction  such  as  a  modern  organization  like  the 
Salvation  Army  can  supply,  he  started  forth  in 

'  2  Cor.  xi,  13  »  Gal.  ii,  12.  3  xi,  4-6. 


154       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

the  service  of  the  Word.  He  bore  it  over  land 
and  sea,  by  the  great  roads  and  over  mountain 
paths,  on  shipboard  at  the  mercy  of  the  winds  and 
waves,  confident  that  some  hearts  in  city  and 
village  and  harbour  would  welcome  the  good 
news.  It  has  often  been  said  that  at  its  outset 
Christianity  was  an  urban  religion.  It  was  not  a 
century  old,  as  PHny  shows  us,'  before  it  had 
penetrated  a  whole  province.  The  conversion  of 
country  districts  beyond  the  suburbs  of  the  towns 
was  no  less  the  work  of  the  wider  Apostolate. 

Beside  the  Apostle  stood  the  Prophet.  There 
was,  indeed,  no  very  sharp  distinction  between 
them,  for  the  greedy  apostle  would  betray  himself 
as  a  false  prophet,  and  the  faithful  apostle  might 
see  visions  and  speak  "in  spirit."  They  appear 
at  an  early  date  in  the  church  at  Jerusalem ;  they 
are  among  the  promoters  of  the  mission  of  Bar- 
nabas and  Paul  at  Antioch;  four  daughters  of 
the  EvangeUst  PhiHp  prophesy  at  Csesarea"; 
they  are  found  all  the  way  from  Asia  to  Rome. 
Their  privilege  was  to  receive  "visions  and  reve- 
lations." In  the  excitement  of  exalted  rapture, 
moved  perhaps  by  hymn  and  prayer  amid  their 
fellow-worshippers,  they  broke  forth  suddenly 
into  speech,  sometimes  in  such  swift  succesion 
and  with  such  tumultuous  utterance  that  Paul 

1  Cp.  Lect.  I.,  p.  I. 

2  Acts  xxi,  9;  the  family  afterwards  removed  to  Hierapolis 
in  Proconsular  Asia;  cp.  Euseb.,  Hist.  EccL,  III,  xxxii,  with 
McGifEert's  note  on  the  confusion  between  the  Evangelist  and 
the  Apostle. 


The  Church  as  Sphere  of  Salvation  155 

found  it  necessary  to  suggest  that  two  or  three 
would  suffice  for  one  meeting,  and  only  one  should 
speak  at  once ;  their  inspiration  should  produce  order 
not  confusion. '  They  discoursed  doubtless  of  the 
manifold  aspects  of  the  Christian's  life,  of  its  diffi- 
culties and  joys,  its  perils  and  rewards,  of  God  the 
Father  and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  but  especially  of 
the  ' '  promise  of  his  coming. ' '  As  one  and  another 
passed  away  ere  his  arrival  the  prophet  poured  out 
words  of  comfort  and  hope,  and  when  the  Powers  of 
Evil  seemed  especially  active,  it  was  his  function  to 
exhort  to  endurance  and  to  give  warning  against 
lapse.  The  forms  which  the  great  struggle  might 
assume,  the  tribulations  which  it  would  involve,  the 
triumphant  issue  which  it  would  secure,  were  his 
chief  themes.  Of  the  Pauline  prophecy  in  written 
form  there  are  conspicuous  examples  in  the  predic- 
tion of  the  revelation  of  "  the  Lawless  One,  whom  the 
Lord  Jesus  shall  slay  with  the  breath  of  his  mouth , "  ^ 
or  the  mystery  of  the  resurrection  with  the  final 
victory  of  the  Christ  over  all  his  enemies,  and  his 
subsequent  subjection  to  the  Father  that  God  may 
be  all  in  all.  ^  From  some  Jerusalem  prophet  there 
probably  issued  the  "Httle  Apocalypse"  in  which 
sayings  of  Jesus  have  been  inwoven,  assigned 
to  the  Teacher  as  the  solemn  close  of  his  brief 
ministry  in    the   capital."*     On  a  still  larger  and 

» I  Cor.  xiv,  29-33.     » 2  Thess.  ii,  8.     J  i  Cor.  xv,  24-28,  51-54. 

'■  Mark  xiii.  Cp.  Charles,  A  Critical  History  of  the  Doctrine  of 
a  Future  Life  (1899),  pp.  323-329,  and  Wellhausen,  Das  Evangcl- 
ium  Marci  (1903),  in  loc. 


156       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

more  splendid  scale  is  the  whole  book  of  visions 
placed  at  the  close  of  our  New  Testament,  which 
bears  pre-eminently  the  name  of  "Revelation." 
This  book  announces  itself  at  the  opening  and  the 
close  as  ' '  prophecy. "  Its  author  claims  no  apostle- 
ship.  He  writes  of  what  he  has  heard  and  seen  "in 
spirit,"  and  ranks  himself  among  the  prophets.^ 
When  Rome  falls  he  bids  the  saints,  apostles,  and 
prophets  join  in  heaven's  joy;  she  is  judged,  for  she 
has  deceived  the  nations  with  her  sorcery,  and  in 
her  was  found  the  blood  of  prophets  and  of  saints.  ^ 
The  gift  of  prophesying  was  essentially  spon- 
taneous; the  suddenness  and  irregularity  of  its 
operation  in  the  assemblies  of  worship  proved  that 
its  source  was  not  in  the  human  will;  and  the 
nature  of  its  announcements  implied  an  origin  no 
other  than  divine.  Fasting,  meditation,  prayer, 
might  prepare  the  willing  mind  to  receive  the 
heavenly  message^;  but  the  initiative  lay  with  the 
Spirit  and  the  first  condition  of  its  action  was 
freedom.  But  the  tendency  to  imitate  prophetic 
utterance  was  a  grave  danger.  Warnings  against 
false  prophets  are  lodged  already  in  the  Gospels.^ 
A  long  line  of  apocalyptic  books  followed  the 
Johannine  Revelation,  some  of  which  have  sur- 
vived in  fragments  to  tell  us  that  we  need  not 
lament  the  disappearance  of  this  form  of  early 
Christian  literature,  in  swift  decline  from  its  first 


I  i,  10;  iv,  2;  xxii,  9.  2  xviii,  20,  24:  cp,  x,  7,  xi, 

3  So  Hermas  in  the  Shepherd,  Vis.  II,  ii,  i. 
^  Mark  xiii,  22;  Matt,  xxiv,  il. 


18. 


The  Church  as  Sphere  of  Salvation  157 

exaltation.  A  prophetic  ministry,  however,  con- 
tinued to  exercise  its  gift.  This,  too,  had  its  travel- 
ling representatives,  who  might  yield  to  temptation 
like  the  itinerant  apostle.  The  prophet  might 
speak  in  ecstasy,  says  our  invaluable  manual  of 
Church-Discipline,  but  unless  he  has  "the  ways 
of  the  Lord"  he  deserves  no  hearing.  Behaviour 
is  the  first  mark  for  distinguishing  the  true  from 
the  false.  To  order  a  meal  in  a  rapture,  and  to  eat 
it  when  the  Spirit  had  departed,  was  a  sure  sign  of 
deception.  So  was  it  if  the  prophet  did  not  prac- 
tise what  he  preached,  or  demanded  money  or  other 
gifts  for  himself. '  But  for  the  true  prophet,  settled 
among  his  people,  no  honour  or  recompense  was  too 
great.  He  had  no  other  means  of  livelihood,  he  must 
be  maintained  by  the  community.  The  first  fruits 
of  oxen  and  sheep,  of  the  wine-press  and  the  thresh- 
ing-floor, of  bread  and  wine  and  oil,  of  money  and 
clothes,  were  due  to  him,  just  as  of  old  they  had 
been  given  to  the  ' '  high-priest. "  ^  Here  is  a  glimpse 
of  a  permanent  ministry  such  as  might  arise  under 
various  conditions  of  local  circumstance  and  per- 
sonal attachment.  The  devotion  of  Christians  to 
their  prophets  was  satirized  by  Lucian,  who  merci- 
lessly exposed  the  trickery  and  assumption  on  one 
side  and  the  creduHty  upon  the  other.  ^     But  the 

■  Teaching  of  the  Twelve  Apostles,  xi,  7-12. 

'  Ihid.,  13;  cp.  DcJit.  xxvi,  1-3. 

3  De MortcPeregrini, cp-Kcrmas,  in  theShepherd,  below,  p.  200. 
Prof.  Kirsopp  Lake,  Harvard  Theol.  Rev.,  1911,  "  The  Shepherd  of 
Hernias  and  Christian  Life  in  Rome  in  the  Second  Century,"  p.  45. 


158       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

memory  of  a  great  and  noble  function  could  not 
wholly  fade.  Visions  and  revelations  might  be 
vouchsafed  at  rarer  intervals,  but  they  still  occurred. 
When  the  enthusiasm  of  early  days  had  waned,  and 
the  organization  of  office  had  supplanted  the  free 
movement  of  the  Spirit,  the  claim  to  prophecy 
was  heard  again;  Montanus  and  his  followers 
revived  a  nearly  lost  activity,  and  in  the  face 
of  the  growing  stringency  of  ecclesiastical  rule 
sought  to  restore  the  ancient  liberty  and  purity 
of  the  Church.^ 

Third  in  Paul's  list  (i  Cor.  xii,  28)  stand  the 
Teachers.  They,  too,  shared  in  the  energy  of  the 
Spirit,  and  belonged  to  the  ministry  which  may  be 
designated  in  the  wider  sense  prophetic  in  contrast 
to  the  duties  of  practical  management.  Instruc- 
tion was  needed  for  those  who  sought  to  be  received 
into  the  Church.  They  must  learn  the  elements 
of  the  faith,  the  contents  of  the  sacred  traditions, 
the  significance  of  the  holy  rites  of  baptism,  wor- 
ship, and  the  Lord's  Supper,  the  meaning  of 
ancient  prophecy,^  the  words  of  psalm  and  hymn, 
the  challenge  of  the  new  ethics,  the  demands  of  the 
Christian  life.  In  the  weekly  gatherings  also  the 
teacher  would  naturally  speak.  If  the  Apostle's 
enumeration  of  "psalm,  teaching,  revelation" 
really  denotes  (as  is  sometimes  supposed)  a  fixed 

'  See  below,  p.  201. 

=  The  application  of  prophecy  by  way  of  Scripture-proof 
played  a  great  part  in  early  Christian  teaching,  as  Justin's 
Dialogue  with  Tryphosufficiently  illustrates. 


The  Church  as  Sphere  of  Salvation  159 

order  (i  Cor.  xiv,  26),  he  followed  the  "praises" 
with  which  the  meeting  opened.     Many  would  be 
his  themes  as  he  applied  the  great  ideas  of  Chris- 
tian faith  and  hope  to  the  problems  of  conduct 
which  sprang  out  of  the  daily  contact  with  heathen 
usage.     In  times  of  anxiety  his  words  might  take 
the  form  of  exhortation,  in  trust,  encouragement, 
or   comfort. '     He,  too,  impelled   by   the   Spirit, 
might  undertake  a  travelling  mission.     No  less 
than  a  true  prophet  is  the  true  teacher  worthy  of 
his  food,  says  the  Teaching  of  the  Twelve  Apostles; 
along  with  the  prophets  they  are  the  "honoured," 
by  whose  side  the  men  of  practical  service,  bishops 
and  deacons,  are  also  to  be  ranked.^     How  many 
aspects  of  the  ministry  of  speech  might  be  realized 
in  the  same  person  is  plain  from  the  description 
of  Polycarp,  for  so  many  years  the  devoted  Bishop 
of  Smyrna,  as  an  apostolic  and  prophetic  teacher.  ^ 
Very  early    in    the   history    of   the   Jerusalem 
church  it  had  been   found  necessary    to    divide 
the  duties  of  the  "service  of  the  word"  and  the 
"service  of  tables"  which  provided  for  the  daily 
needs  of  the  community.''     The  teaching  function 
was  not  in  any  way  closed  to  those  who  were 
chosen  for  business  administration.     Among  "the 
Seven,"  Stephen  was  conspicuous  for  the  wisdom 
and  power  of  his  utterance.      They  have  often 

'  Rom.  xii,  7-8,  distinguishes  between  teaching  and  exhorta- 
tion, but  the  same  person  might  give  both,  just  as  he  might 
prophesy  or  speak  in  tongues  as  well  as  preach. 

»  xiii,  2;  XV,  1-2.  3  Martyr.,  xvi,  2.  *  Acts  vi,  1-6. 


i6o       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

been  called  deacons,  though  the  author  of  Acts 
does  not  so  describe  them.  They  are  heard  of  no 
more  after  Stephen's  death,  and  were  apparently 
dispersed  after  the  persecution,  for  one  of  them, 
PhiHp,  after  preaching  in  Samaria,  settles  for  a 
long  residence  in  C^sarea.  Their  place  seems  to 
have  been  suppHed  later  by  "elders,"'  of  whose 
appointment  and  duties,  however,  nothing  is  said. 
In  the  Pauline  churches  the  necessity  for  some 
kind  of  organization  was  the  more  pressing  because 
the  Apostle  himself  could  rarely  remain  long  with 
his  new  converts,  and  there  was  no  permanent 
group  of  influential  persons  like  the  members 
of  the  original  Twelve  who  still  belonged  to  the 
Mother  Church  under  the  presidency  of  the  Lord's 
brother  James.  The  formation  of  a  fresh  congre- 
gation involved  all  kinds  of  business  detail.  A 
room  must  be  found  for  meeting;  hours  of  worship 
must  be  fixed ;  arrangements  must  be  made  for  the 
reception  of  fresh  members,  for  the  accommodation 
of  travelling  missionaries,  for  communication  with 
adjoining  churches,  for  the  help  of  the  poor  and 
the  visitation  of  the  sick,  perhaps  the  burial  of  the 
dead,  and  not  least  for  the  maintenance  of  some 
kind  of  discipline  among  those  whose  eager  hopes 
betrayed  them  into  abandonment  of  ordinary 
duties,  or  whose  profession  of  the  new  faith  was 
not  proof  against  the  temptation  to  relapse  into  old 
vices.  To  the  Thessalonians  Paul  finds  it  neces- 
sary to  urge  due  recognition  of  "them  that  labour 

'  Acts  XV,  4,  6;  xxi,  l8;  Greek  presbyters. 


The  Church  as  Sphere  of  Salvation  i6i 

among  you  and  rule  over  you  in  the  Lord,  and 
admonish  you."'  Among  the  gifts  of  the  Spirit 
are  "helps"  and  "governments"^  and  it  is  in 
virtue  of  the  same  endowment  that  "he  that 
ruleth"  is  enjoined  to  do  so  "with  diligence."^ 
What  kind  of  officers  do  these  terms  imply? 
Before  offering  the  brief  answer  which  is  alone 
possible  within  the  limits  of  these  lectures,  it  may 
be  worth  while  to  view  the  general  position  of 
believers  as  a  whole. 

It  was  the  peculiar  character  of  Gentile  Christi- 
anity— with  which  the  future  of  the  Church  was 
involved — that  by  its  formation  out  of  Judaism 
it  was  provided  at  once  with  a  literature  and  a 
past.  The  Hebrew  Scriptures  became  its  sacred 
books,  and  it  served  itself  the  heir  of  prophecy. 
Like  every  other  religion  of  antiquity  Judaism  had 
placed  sacrifice  in  the  centre  of  its  sacred  duties, 
and  around  the  altar  had  set  an  exclusive  priest- 
hood. The  emancipation  of  Christians  from 
obedience  to  the  Law  effected  by  the  Apostle  Paul 
liberated  them  from  allegiance  to  the  Temple  at 
Jerusalem.  But  they  were  surrounded  by  cults 
of  every  description  in  which  offerings  of  all 
kinds,  from  the  simple  ritual  of  the  domestic 
hearth  to  the  complicated  ceremonies  of  an 
august  festival  of  the  gods,  formed  the  very  core. 
If  the  reproach  was  brought  against  the  spiritual 
worship  of  the  synagogues  of  the  Dispersion  that 
it  presented  no  consecrated  gifts  to  Deity,   the 

'  I  Thess.  V,  12-13.  ^  I  Cor.  xii,  28.  ^  Rom.  xii,  8. 


1 62       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

Jew  could  at  least  point  to  the  splendours  of  the 
national  sanctuary,  renowned  through  the  whole 
world.     The  Christian  had  no  such  way  of  escape. 
To   the   Jewish   critic   he   could   plead   with   the 
author   of  Hebrews  that   a  perfect   sacrifice  had 
been  offered  once  for  all  by  Christ.      But  to  the 
cultivated  Gentile  that  argument  was  unavailing. 
He  was  not  interested  in  the  Law,  and  was  glad 
to  be  rid  of  the  whole  apparatus  of  sacrificial 
formahsm.     But  he  might  be  interested  in  pro- 
phecy.    It  was  a  new  type  of  literature  to  him, 
and  he  was  willing  to  accept  the  view  that  the 
Christians  were  the  new  Israel,  and  the  ancient 
promises  were  to  be  fulfilled  in  them.     The  Jews 
of  the  Dispersion  had  seized  on  the  language  of 
Malachi'   to  justify  the  prayers  of   the  faithful 
scattered  among  the  Gentiles  over  the  sacrifices 
at   Jerusalem.     The   words   were   appHed   again 
and  again  in  defence  of  Christian  worship.     When 
the    Teaching   of   the    Twelve   Apostles    describes 
the  Lord's  day  meeting  to  "break  bread  and  give 
thanks"  (in  the  technical  sense  of  the  Eucharist), 
all  quarrels  must  first  be  ended  that  the  sacrifice 
may  not  be  defiled,   "for  this  is  that  which  was 
spoken  by  the  Lord,  'In  every  place  and  time 
offer  me  a  pure  sacrifice,  for  I  am  a  great  King,' 
saith  the  Lord,   'and  my  name  is  great  among 
the    peoples.'"'     "No    images,    no    sacrifices," 
so  ran  the  frequent  charge  against  "the  Way." 

'  Mai.  i,  10,  II,  14. 

=>  Teaching,  14;  Mai.  i,  ii,  14;  cp.  Justin,  Dialogue,  xli,  cxvii. 


The  Church  as  Sphere  of  Salvation  163 

The  Apologists  rebutted  it  with  moral  and  spiri- 
tual pleas ' ;  the  martyrs  refused  to  burn  the  grains 
of  incense  proffered  by  the  magistrates  before  the 
statues  of  the  gods;  "as  to  sacrifices,"  declared 
Apollonius,  "I  and  all  Christians  offer  a  bloodless 
sacrifice  to  God,  the  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth 
and  sea,  and  of  every  living  being,  on  behalf  of 
the  spiritual  and  rational  images  who  have  been 
appointed  by  the  providence  of  God  to  rule  over 
the  earth.  "^ 

The  imagery  of  sacrifice,  accordingly,  frequently 
appears  in  early  Christian  literatiire.  Christ  gives 
himself  up  to  God  as  an  offering  and  a  sacrifice  for 
an  odour  of  a  sweet  smell.  ^  He  presents  the 
Church  to  himself  spotless  and  unblemished  like  a 
consecrated  gift.''  Paul  entreats  the  Romans  to 
present  their  bodies  a  living  sacrifice,  holy,  accept- 
able to  God  which  is  their  reasonable  service.  ^ 
"Peter"  sees  the  believers  built  up  as  living  stones 
into  a  spiritual  house  where  spiritual  sacrifices 
may  be  offered'';  the  preacher  in  Hebrews  calls  for 
continual  sacrifices  of  praise,  the  fruit  of  lips  that 
confess  God's  name,  and  includes  "well-doing  and 
sharing"  among  the  sacrifices  with  which  he  is 
well  pleased.^     If  these  were  the  offerings,  who 

*  Cp.  Athenagoras,  Legal.,  xiii;  Minucius  Felix,  Octav.,  xxii.    ' 

»  Conybeare,  Acts  oj  Apollonius,  xxxix. 

3  Ephes.  V,  2.  *  Ephes.  v,  27. 

s  Rom.  xii,  I.  For  XoyiKTjv  Xarpelav  cp.  S^^ai  djrd  irdyrup 
"KoyLK^v  6va-lai>,  Corp.  HcrtneL,  xiii  (xiv),  19,  and  Reitzenstein, 
Poimandres,  p.  347. 

6  I  Pet.  ii,  5.  ''  Hebr.  xiii,  15,  16. 


164       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

were  the  priests?  In  the  wilderness  of  Sinai  Moses 
had  promised  Israel  that  they  should  be  a  kingdom 
of  priests  and  a  holy  nation/  Not  till  the  new 
Israel  arose  was  this  promise  realized.  In  break- 
ing with  the  Law  the  claims  of  a  limited  priesthood 
were  annulled,  and  the  approach  to  God  was 
thrown  open  to  all;  had  he  not  called  them  out 
of  darkness  into  his  marvellous  light  ?^  To  the 
prophet  of  the  Revelation  this  is  a  theme  of  con- 
stant joy.  The  saints  already  constitute  a  king- 
dom, they  have  been  made  priests  by  Christ  to  his 
God  and  Father  (i,  6),  even  now  "they  reign  upon 
the  earth"  (v,  10)  sang  the  four  and  twenty  Elders 
to  the  Lamb ;  after  the  first  resurrection  they  shall 
be  priests  of  Christ  as  well,  and  shall  reign 
with  him  a  thousand  years  (xx,  6) ;  in  the  New 
Jerusalem,  where  the  Lord  God  the  Almighty  and 
the  Lamb  are  themselves  the  temple,  they  shall 
still  serve,  but  God  will  be  no  more  invisible, 
"they  shall  see  his  face"  (xxii,  3,  4).  This  was  in 
fact  only  another  way  of  saying  that  within  the 
congregations  of  the  Christians  priesthood  was 
abolished.  It  was  the  peculiar  form  in  which  amid 
surrounding  institutions  the  central  truth  of 
Christian  worship  was  expressed.  For  all  souls 
there  is  immediate  access  to  the  throne  of  grace, 
no  human  mediator  is  needed  between  the  spirit 
of  man  and  "the  Father  of  all,  who  is  over  all  and 
through  all  and  in  all."^  Long  after  the  episco- 
pate was  established  this  principle  is  repeatedly 

'  Exod.  xix,  6.  *  I  Pet.  ii,  9.  ^  Ephes.  iv,  6. 


The  Church  as  Sphere  of  Salvation  165 

affirmed.  "We  arc  the  true  high-priestly  race  of 
God,"  declares  Justin. '  Irenaeus  asserts  that 
"all  righteous  men  have  the  priestly  rank/'^"  and 
"all  the  disciples  of  the  Lord  are  Levites  and 
Priests."^  And  the  sentiment  is  echoed  through 
Origen  down  to  Augustine,  though  on  different 
grounds.  "All  Christians  are  priests  because  they 
axe  members  of  one  Priest." 

The  Church,  however,  developed  in  due  time  an 
exclusive  priesthood  of  its  own,  with  the  salvation 
of  believers  in  its  custody.  The  stages  of  this 
process  are  involved  in  some  obscurity,  and  every 
step  has  been  surrounded  with  eager  controversy. 
Any  endeavour  to  summarize  the  evidence  is  in- 
evitably exposed  to  the  danger  of  ignoring  objec- 
tions which  may  be  raised  from  another  point 
of  view,  or  failing  to  take  note  of  counter-pleas. 
All  that  can  be  attempted  here  is  to  illustrate  the 
gradual  change  from  the  early  type  of  ministry 
of  "gifts"  {charismata) — hence  often  called  the 
"charismatic"  ministry — to  that  of  regular  "or- 
ders" systematized  under  fairly  uniform  prac- 
tice, to  which  the  sacerdotal  character  was  in  due 
time  attached. 

The  earlier  letters  of  the  Apostle  Paul  refer,  as 
we  have  seen,  to  certain  functions  of  "rule"  or 
administration   in    the   congregations   formed   in 

•  Dialogue,  cxvi. 

'Adv.  Hares.,  IV,  viii,  3.  The  Latin  omnes  enim  justi  saccrdo- 
talcm  habent  ordinem  is  exposed  to  some  doubt,  as  two  late 
Greek  writers  quote  a  different  phrase. 

3  Ibid.,  V,  xxxiv,  3. 


1 66       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

Greece  or  Rome.  The  ability  of  direction  and 
practical  aid  is  no  less  a  manifestation  of  the 
Spirit  than  that  of  prophecy  or  teaching.  But  it 
had  less  immediate  spontaneity,  it  was  by  its 
very  nature  more  constant.  No  titles  are  at  first 
mentioned  for  those  who  exercised  it.  Writing 
from  his  imprisonment,  however,  to  the  church  at 
Philippi,  the  Apostle  salutes  ' '  the  saints  which  are 
in  Christ  Jesus  with  the  bishops  and  deacons. "  The 
first  term  does  not  appear  anywhere  else  in  the  gen- 
erally recognized  letters  of  the  Apostle,  the  second 
is  used  more  vaguely  without  local  reference  in  the 
description  of  Timothy  as  a  "deacon  (minister)  of 
God,"  or  of  Epaphras  as  a  "deacon  of  Christ."' 

Elsewhere  we  are  informed  by  the  author  of  Acts 
(Luke  probably  wrote  near  the  end  of  the  century, 
after  the  year  94  a. d)  that  on  their  first  missionary 
journey  Paul  and  Barnabas  appointed  "elders" 
at  Derbe,  Lystra,  Iconium,  and  Antioch  in  Pisidia.  ^ 
With  fasting  and  prayer  the  little  groups  of 
believers  commended  those  who  were  chosen  to 
the  Lord.  The  choice  was  no  doubt  made  jointly 
by  the  apostles  and  the  disciples ;  no  imposition  of 
hands  is  specified  as  in  the  case  of  Barnabas  and 
Paul  themselves,  but  the  author  may  have  thought 
it  needless  to  mention  what  was  a  matter  of  es- 
tabHshed  usage.  Elders  are  also  officers  of  the 
church  at  Ephesus,^  but  none  were  installed  in 
Philippi,  Thessalonica,  Beraea,  or  Corinth. 

I  I  Thess.  iii,  2;  Col.  i,  7.  '  Acts  xiv,  23. 

3  Acts  XX,  17.  There  is  no  mention  of  their  appointment  by  Paul. 


The  Church  as  Sphere  of  Salvation  167 

In  doctiments  that  may  be  placed  with  most  like- 
lihood in  their  present  form  in  the  period  following 
Paul's  activity  we  hear  of  "pastors"  (shep- 
herds),' of  the  "office  of  a  bishop"  (episcope,  over- 
sight or  supervision),  and  deacons,^  and  of  ruling 
elders^;  the  elder  and  the  bishop  appearing  again 
in  connection  with  instructions  to  Titus  to  appoint 
elders  in  Crete.''  "Peter,"  who  describes  himself 
as  a  "fellow-elder,"  exhorts  the  elders  of  the 
churches  in  Asia  Minor  to  "shepherd  the  flock  of 
God"  among  them.^  Hebrews  (before  95  a.d.) 
alludes  to  "them  that  had  the  rule"  or  leaders, 
who  combined  that  character  with  the  preacher's 
work^;  "chief  men"  as  Acts  entitles  Judas  and 
Silas  who  were  also  prophets.  ^  In  the  letter 
assigned  to  Clement,  sent  by  the  church  at  Rome 
to  that  at  Corinth  about  95  A.D.  and  included 
in  the  Codex  Alexandrinus  of  the  New  Testament 
(now  in  the  British  Museum),  it  is  laid  down 
that  the  apostles  after  testing  their  "first  fruits" 
by  the  Spirit  appointed  them  to  be  bishops  and 
deacons  of  future  believers.^  The  Corinthian 
church  had  removed  from  the  episcope  certain 
officials  who  had  offered  the  sacred  gifts  (viz.  at 
the  Eucharist  in  worship)  in  blameless  holiness. 
Their  immediate  predecessors  who  had  been 
released  by  death  from  all  risk  of  similar  deposi- 

'  Ephes.  iv,  ii.  »  i  Tim.  iii,  1-13,  3  Ibid.,  v,  17. 

*  Tit.  i,  5-9.  5  I  Pel.  V,  1-2.         *  Hebr.  xiii,  7,  r]yoi>iJi£voi. 

1  Acts  XV,  22,  32,  also  rjyovfjLevoi.      Cp.  irpoKTrdnevoi,    I    Thess.   V, 
12;  Rom.  xii,  8. 
8  I  Clem.,  xlii,  4. 


1 68       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

tion  are  then  designated  "Presbyters"  or  elders.^ 
These  references  to  Church  officers  of  various 
degrees  suggest  many  difficult  questions.  Whence 
came  these  various  names?  What  duties  do  they 
severally  cover,  and  what  qualifications  do  they 
imply?  Above  all,  what  were  the  precise  relations 
between  bishops  and  presbyters? 

The  actual  terminology  of  these  offices  of  course 
is  Greek,  but  many  circimistances  may  have 
combined  to  determine  their  local  application. 
The  first  members  of  churches  outside  Palestine 
were  often  Jews;  the  Christian  worship — con- 
trasted with  Gentile  cults — was  closely  linked 
with  that  of  the  synagogue;  and  it  might  be 
expected  that  the  church  officers  would  be  desig- 
nated by  corresponding  titles.  Greeks,  on  the 
other  hand,  perceiving  the  resemblance  of  the 
brotherhoods  of  the  new  faith  to  the  confraternities 
and  guilds  which  played  so  great  a  part  in  their 
own  life,  might  employ  the  titles  in  common  use 
among  them;  while  the  customary  usage  of  cor- 
porations of  various  kinds  spread  through  large 
administrative  areas  might  suggest  the  adoption 
of  some  specific  name. 

The  term  episcopos  (bishop)  had  long  been 
current  for  high  officers  of  government.^  When 
the    Athenians    proceeded    to    arrange    for    the 

*  I  Clem.,  xliv,  4-5. 

'  See  Lightfoot's  famous  dissertation  on  "  The  Christian  Minis- 
try" in  his  Commentary  on  Philippians,  and  the  note  on  p.  95 
on  "The  synonyms  'bishop'  and  'presbyter.'" 


The  Church  as  Sphere  of  Salvation  169 

administration  of  some  newly  acquired  territory, 
they  sent  "bishops"  to  do  it.  The  inspectors 
appointed  by  Indian  kings  were  designated  in 
the  notes  of  Greek  observers  by  the  same  title. 
When  Antiochus  purposed  to  exterminate  the 
religion  of  the  Jews,  he  instituted  a  commission  of 
' '  bishops"  to  carry  out  the  abominable  work.  There 
is  some  evidence  that  the  term  was  used  in  Greek 
associations  of  various  kinds,  and  Dr.  Hatch 
brought  instances  out  of  his  vast  learning  which 
connected  the  office  specially  with  the  adm^inis- 
tration  of  finance.  In  the  list  of  qualifications  in 
I  Tim.  iii,  1-7,  which  reads  like  an  extract  from 
some  primitive  book  of  church-law, '  it  is  required 
that  the  bishop  shall  be  "  no  lover  of  money. "  But 
the  term  had  also  prophetic  warrant.  Had  not 
Scripture  declared  long  before,  said  the  Roman 
letter,  "I  will  establish  their  bishops  in  righteous- 
ness, and  their  deacons  in  faith  "P"* 

Seniority  has  often  been  a  ground  for  trust. 
In  the  ancient  organization  of  Israel  the  "el- 
ders" of  clan  and  tribe  played  an  important 
social  and  even  religious  part  (cp.  Num.  xi).  The 
members  of  the  supreme  council  at  Jerusalem 
(known  as  the  Sanhedrin)^  are  again  and  again 

^  Cp.  Harnack,  Sources  of  the  Apostolic  Canons  (tr.  Wheatley, 

1895),  P-  50. 

'  I  Clem.,  xlii,  5,  citing  Isaiah  Ix,  17.  The  same  passage  is 
quoted  by  Irenaeus,  Adv.  Har.,  IV,  xxvi,  5,  in  the  form,  "I  will 
give  thy  rulers  in  peace  and  thy  bishops  in  righteousness, "  follow- 
ing the  Septuagint. 

3  A  version  of  the  Greek  term  Synedrion. 


170       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

described  in  the  Gospels  as  "elders."'  But  the 
name  was  not  in  use  as  an  official  title  in  the 
Synagogue  for  some  centuries  after  the  foundation 
of  Christianity.''  Its  appearance  in  the  Jerusalem 
Church,  however,  shows  that  it  was  naturally 
employed  by  Jews,  and  Paul  and  Barnabas  (assum- 
ing the  statement  of  Acts  xiv,  23,  to  be  correct) 
might  have  designated  the  officers  whom  they 
appointed  in  Asia  Minor  by  a  title  already  familiar 
to  them.  On  the  other  hand  Deissmann  has 
shown  that  it  was  freely  used  elsewhere  in  different 
applications.  In  Egypt  it  became  the  appellation 
(under  the  Ptolemies)  of  the  twenty-five  members 
of  a  body  which  regulated  the  affairs  of  the  whole 
priesthood,  while  in  Asia  Minor  it  was  a  common 
name  for  the  directors  of  a  corporation.  ^ 

The  verb  diakonein,  to  serve,  of  which  diakonos 
(deacon)  is  the  noun,  had  a  wide  use."*  It  repre- 
sents in  the  Gospels  the  word  which  Jesus  em- 
ployed to  describe  his  own  ministry  s;  and  was 
specially  applied  to  the  service  of  the  table  at 
meals.  ^  In  commenting  on  the  account  of  the  Ther- 
apeuts  of  Egypt  given  by  Philo  in  his  treatise  on 

'  Cp.  Mark  viii,  31;  xiv,  43,  53;  the  application  in  vii,  3,  is 
different. 

^  Schurer,  Gesch.  des  Jiidischen  Volkes  im  Zeitalter  Jesu  Christie, 
Vol.  Ill,  p.  51. 

3  Deissmann,  Bible  Studies  (Engl,  transl.,  1901),  pp.  154  ff. 
and  233  ff. 

"t  In  the  LXX  only  in  Esther,  of  the  court-servants  of  Artaxerxes, 
1,  10,  etc. 

5  Mark  X,  45;  Luke  xxii,  27.  *  Acts  vi,  2;  Luke  xvii,  8. 


The  Church  as  Sphere  of  Salvation  171 

"The  Contemplative  Life,"  Eusebius  identifies 
them  with  Christians,  and  observes  that  they  pos- 
sessed the  diaconate  and  the  ofhce  of  bishop,  which 
takes  precedence  of  all  others.^  Philo  had  de- 
scribed the  young  men  as  "serving  at  table" 
{diakonountes) ,  and  the  president  (whom  Eusebius 
equates  with  a  bishop)  as  leading  in  the  exposition 
of  the  Scriptures.^  The  word  diakonia  was  not 
limited,  however,  to  such  attendance.  It  is  used 
for  the  ministry  of  Timothy  when  he  is  bidden  to 
do  the  work  of  an  Evangelist.  ^  Phcebe,  of  the 
church  of  Cenchreae,  the  port  of  Corinth,  is  com- 
mended as  a  deaconess  to  what  seems  to  be  the 
church  of  Ephesus,  though  the  salutations  are 
oddly  transferred  to  Rome.'*  "She  has  been  the 
succourer  of  many,"  says  the  Apostle,  "and  of  my- 
self also."  As  helpers  of  the  bishops,  and  (as 
will  appear)  the  administrators  of  church-alms, 
the  deacons,  too,  must  not  be  "greedy  of  filthy 
lucre.  "5 

The  principal  problem  which  these  names 
suggest  lies  in  the  relation  of  the  bishops  and  the 
presbyters  (or  elders).  The  preface  to  the  Ordinal 
of  the  Anglican  Church  affirms  that — 

It  is  evident  to  all  men  diligently  reading  the  holy 
Scriptures  and  ancient  Authors  that  from  the  Apostles' 
time  there  have  been  three  Orders  of  Ministers  in 
Christ's  Church:  Bishops,  Priests,  and  Deacons. 

»  Euseb.,  Hist.  Eccl.,  II,  xvii,  23.        »  De  Vita  Contempt.,  8-10. 
3  2  Tim.  iv,  5.  ■•  Rom.  xvi,  l.  s_l  Tim.  iii,  8. 


172       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

On  the  other  hand  a  distinguished  American 
scholar,  Dr.  McGiffert,  suggested  that  the  term 
presbyter  was  a  name  for  any  church  officer,  Hke 
the  "leaders"  {Hehr.  xiii,  17)  or  the  "shepherds" 
{Ephes.  iv,  11).  Bishop  and  deacon  indicated 
specific  functionaries  with  corresponding  duties; 
and  there  were  thus  only  two  sorts  of  ministers 
instead  of  three. '  The  same  practical  result  is 
reached  by  the  identification  in  first-century 
literature  of  the  bishop  with  the  presbyter,  as 
argued  by  Bishop  Lightfoot.  ^  On  what  evidence 
does  this  rest? 

The  letter  of  the  Roman  church  to  the  Corinth- 
ians is  evoked  by  a  report  that  one  or  two  disturb- 
ers of  the  peace  have  betrayed  the  most  steadfast 
and  ancient  church  into  revolt  against  the  pres- 
byters. 3  It  urges  the  restoration  of  unity  through 
obedience  to  the  "duly  appointed  presbyters."" 
But  it  affirms  that  as  the  apostles  who  instituted 
bishops  and  deacons  knew  that  there  would  be 
strife  for  the  name  and  office  of  the  bishop  or 
supervisor  {episcope),  they  made  arrangements  for 
a  succession  of  properly  tested  officers,  whom 
the  letter  then  designates  presbyters.  ^  The  two 
names  are  employed  for  the  same  persons.  The 
government  of  the  church  of  Rome  like  that  of 

'  Note  to  his  translation  of  Euseb.,  Hist.  EccL,  III,  xxiii,  8.  Cp. 
his  Christianity  in  the  Apostolic  Age,  pp.  555,  663,  where  the 
position  is  somewhat  modified. 

'  This  is  still  the  view  of  the  Presbyterian  Churches. 

i  I  Clem.,  xlvii,  6.      1 1bid.,  liv,  2 ;  Ivii,  i .      =1  Clem.,  xliv,  1-5. 


The  Church  as  Sphere  of  Salvation  173 

Corinth  was  thus  plainly  vested  in  a  group  or 
board  or  committee  (to  use  modem  terms)  of 
Seniors,  whose  number  is  not  stated,  and  among 
whom  no  one  apparently  claimed  precedence  over 
the  others.  Such  a  group  (often  called  a ' '  college ' ') 
was  termed  a  "presbytery."' 

The  language  of  Tit.  i,  5-9  implies  the  same 
identification.  Titus  is  instructed  to  appoint 
elders  in  every  city,  who  must  be  blameless, 
married  but  once,  with  Christian  children,  for 
the  bishop  must  be  blameless,  etc.,  where  the  word 
"for"  is  meaningless  if  presbyter  and  bishop  are 
not  the  same.  ^ 

Granting,  however,  that  some  presbyters  were 
bishops,  does  it  follow  that  all  were?  In  i  Tim. 
iii.  2,  it  is  required  that  the  bishop  shall  be  "apt 
to  teach,"  and  one  that  "ruleth  well"  his  house, 
as  a  guarantee  of  effective  management  of  the 
church.  This  function  is  afterwards  declared 
worthy  of  double  honour  in  the  elders  that  "rule 
well"  V,  17,  especially  those  who  labour  in  the 
word  and  in  teaching.  Not  all  elders,  it  would 
seem,  had  this  particular  gift;  ability  in  adminis- 
tration might  be  quite  compatible  with  poverty  of 
speech.  But  who  are  the  presbyters  who  rule 
well  and  distinguish  themselves  in  the  minstry 
of  the  word  but  bishops? 

'  I  Tim.  iv,  14.  "College"  (bound  together)  represents  the 
Greek  sundesmon. 

^  It  is  possible  (on  other  grounds)  that  the  description  of  the 
bishop,  7-9,  has  been  inserted  later.  But  the  interpolator  must 
still  have  identified  the  two  oflBcers. 


174       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

The  argument  receives  a  slightly  different  turn 
through  the  employment  of  the  corresponding 
verb  episcopein,  to  exercise  the  episcope  or  over- 
sight, to  supervise.  In  the  exhortation  in  i 
Pet.  V,  2,  the  "fellow-presbyter"  bids  the  elders 
shepherd  God's  flock  with  willing  supervision.^ 
The  word  suggests  the  exercise  of  a  function  rather 
than  the  title  of  a  class  or  order,  and  though  its 
presence  in  the  text  is  disputable,  yet  the  fact 
of  its  appearance  at  all  in  our  manuscripts  is  a 
proof  that  the  copyists  felt  no  incongruity  in  its 
insertion. 

In  the  address  to  the  presbyters  of  Ephesus  whom 
Paul  summoned  to  meet  him  at  Miletus,  he  bids 
them  take  heed  to  the  flock  in  which  the  Holy 
Spirit  had  made  them  bishops.^  The  equation 
seems  again  complete.  It  is  the  presbyters  who 
are  charged  with  the  business  of  supervision.  The 
speeches  in  the  book  are  recognized  as  the  author's 
compositions,  and  it  is  quite  possible  that  the 
Apostle  did  not  use  these  precise  words.  But 
they  are  at  least  evidence  for  the  usage  of  the 
writer's  own  time.  The  book  is  probably  con- 
temporary (within  a  year  or  two)  with  the  Roman 
letter  to  Corinth.  They  both  imply  the  same 
view,  which  is  carried  on  into  the  next  century. 
The  Teaching  of  the  Twelve  Apostles  only  names 
bishops  and  deacons,  ^  and  ignores  elders.     Poly- 

I  Greek  episcopountes,  the  participle.  R.  V.  "  exercising  the 
oversight,  not  of  constraint  but  willingly. 

»^C/5XX,   17,  28.  ^XV,  I. 


The  Church  as  Sphere  of  Salvation  175 

carp,  on  the  other  hand,  writing  to  Philippi  (where 
Paul  included  bishops  and  deacons  in  his  greeting), 
only  mentions  presbyters  and  deacons,  though  he 
specially  refers  to  Paul's  letter. '  Hermas,  record- 
ing his  visions  at  Rome  in  the  Shepherd,  probably 
about  148,  describes  the  church  as  "ruled"  by 
presbyters,*  and  enumerates  its  functionaries 
elsewhere  as  "bishops,  teachers,  and  deacons.  "^ 
Clement  of  Alexandria  tells  a  story  of  the  Apostle 
John  (quoted  also  by  Eusebius  from  his  treatise 
"What  Rich  Man  Can  be  Saved?")  in  which  a 
certain  bishop  is  immediately  after  designated  "the 
presbyter."''  From  Gaul  in  the  same  generation 
Irenaeus  addresses  a  letter  to  Victor  at  Rome  re- 
monstrating with  him  on  his  harsh  conduct  in 
breaking  off  communion  with  the  churches  of  Asia 
on  the  ground  of  difference  in  the  Easter  observ- 
ance. With  historical  lore  he  cites  the  precedents 
of  the  presbyters  who  presided  over  the  Church  of 
Rome  before  him,  and  quotes  the  language  of  one 
of  his  predecessors,  Anicetus,  who  had  in  like 
manner  spoken  of  the  presbyters  before  him.^ 
From  East  and  West  the  testimony  is  identical. 
The  Syriac  Vulgate  of  the  New  Testament  known 
as  the  Peshitta  sometimes  translates  the  word 
episcopos  by  kashisho  or  "presbyter."^    And  the 

'V,  3;  vi,  i;  xi,  1,3. 

*  Vision  II,  iv,  3,  the  same  word  as  Paul  uses,  Rom.  xii,  8. 

3  Vision,  III,  V,  i.  *IIisL  EccL,  III,  xxiii,  8. 

s  Ibid.,  V,  xxiv,  14. 

*  In  Phil,  i,  I ;  I  Tim.  iii,  2  (cp.  iii,  i),  and    Titus    17.      In 
Acts  xx,  28,  the  Greek  ^7ri(TK6irous  is  transliterated.     Kashish  may 


176       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

great  scholar  of  the  Latin  Church,  in  the  fourth  cen- 
tury, Jerome,  emphatically  affirmed  that  in|the  apos- 
tolic age  presbyters  and  bishops  were  the  same.  ^ 

Episcope,  then,  the  function  of  supervision,  was 
exercised  by  presbyters,  and  in  that  capacity 
they  were  called  "bishops"  or  supervisors.  The 
word  was  capable  of  exalted  application.  It 
served  to  describe  the  watchful  care  of  Jesus  as 
the  shepherd  and  overseer  of  souls.  ^  At  the  sum- 
mit of  existence  stands  God,  the  creator  and  super- 
visor of  every  spirit,^  who  multiplies  nations  upon 
earth  and  through  Jesus  Christ  chooses  out  from 
them  all  them  that  love  him.  The  functions  of  the 
bishop  thus  corresponded  to  the  loftiest  ideal,  and 
this  aspect  received  remarkable  expression  in  the  let- 
ters of  Ignatius,  Bishop  of  Antioch,  the  most  splendid 
of  Syrian  cities,  whose  surviving  correspondence 
reveals  the  development  towards  the  threefold 
ministry  of  a  bishop,  presbyters,  and  deacons,  in  the 
churches  of  the  Eastern  Mediterranean  lands. 

Ignatius  had  been  arrested  in  Antioch  in  some 
outbreak  of  persecution,  and  was  sent  to  Rome  in 

mean  elder  in  age,  or  in  a  civil  or  religious  capacity.  In  i  Peter 
ii,  25,  a  third  term  is  used,  apparently  with  the  meaning  of 
"searcher"  with  the  idea  of  chastisement  in  the  background. 
The  Rev.  D.  C.  Simpson  kindly  suggests  to  me  that  the  different 
terms  in  the  Pauline  and  Pastoral  Epistles  on  the  one  hand  and 
Acts  on  the  other  may  indicate  different  stages  of  Church  de- 
velopment, or  result  from  the  preferences  of  different  translators. 

^  Cp.  quotations  in  Lightfoot,  Philippians  (1903),  pp.  98,  229; 
Lindsay,  The  Church  and  the  Ministry,  p.  164. 

'  I  Pet.,  ii,  25. 

31  Clem.,  lix,  3;  cp.Ignat.,  ad  Magnes.,2,,  Ad.  Po/yc, Salutation. 


The  Church  as  Sphere  of  Salvation  177 

the  care  of  ten  soldiers. '  Instead  of  sailing  direct 
to  Italy  from  the  port  of  Antioch  at  Seleucia,  his 
guards  took  him  through  Asia  Minor  on  the  way  to 
Macedonia.  This  gave  his  friends  the  opportun- 
ity of  communicating  with  some  of  the  churches 
along  the  route,  and  deputations  were  sent  to 
greet  him.  Thus  at  Smyrna,  where  Polycarp 
had  been  appointed  Bishop  at  a  relatively  early 
age,  he  was  met  by  Onesimus,  Bishop  of  Ephesus, 
Damas  of  Magnesia,  and  Polybius  of  Tralles, 
who  were  accompanied  by  presbyters  and  deacons, 
Ephesus  sending  the  deacon  Burrhus,  who  escorted 
Ignatius  to  Troas  (whence  he  would  cross  into 
Europe),  and  three  church  members.  Before 
leaving  Smyrna  Ignatius  wrote  to  the  congrega- 
tions which  had  thus  honoured  him,  as  well  as  to 
the  distant  Rome  where  he  hoped  to  suffer  mar- 
tyrdom. And  by  the  hand  of  the  deacon  Burrhus 
he  sent  back  letters  from  Troas  to  the  churches  of 
Philadelphia  and  Smyrna  with  a  separate  com- 
munication to  Bishop  Polycarp.  The  situation 
was  strangely  pathetic.  The  captive  Bishop, 
yearning  to  give  the  supreme  proof  of  his  devotion, 
feels  himself  only  beginning  to  be  a  disciple;  in 
the  severity  of  a  new  and  unexpected  experience 
he  needs  to  be  anointed  like  an  athlete  with  the 
Church's  oil  of  faith  and  endurance.^     When  he 

» The  date  is  uncertain.  Eusebius  assigned  his  martyrdom  to 
108  A.  D.  Others  have  placed  it  later;  Hamack  even  suggests  117- 
126  as  a  possible  limit,  Chronol.  derAUchr.  Lit.,  II,  i  (1897),  p.  406. 

'  Ephes.  iii,  I. 
12 


178       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

reaches  Rome  he  will  find  himself  least  of  the  faith- 
ful there.  But  in  spite  of  his  humility^  he  cannot 
forget  that  he  has  been  at  the  head  of  a  great 
church.  His  scribe  gives  him  the  title  Theophorus, 
the  "God-bearer."  Behind  the  exaggerated  rhet- 
oric in  which  his  ardent  feeling  is  sometimes 
clothed,  lie  high  claims  to  the  character  of  a 
prophet.  Though  he  is  in  chains  (and  he  hopes 
to  rise  in  them — his  spiritual  pearls — through  the 
Ephesian  prayers^),  he  has  his  understanding  of 
heavenly  things,  the  places  of  Angels  and  the 
gatherings  of  Principalities.  ^  At  Philadelphia,  as 
he  reminds  the  church,  he  had  suddenly  spoken 
to  them  with  a  loud  voice — it  was  the  voice  of 
God — urging  unity  with  the  bishop,  the  presbytery, 
and  the  deacons.  So  apposite  was  the  exhortation 
in  the  face  of  local  divisions,  that  he  was  suspected 
of  previous  knowledge.  It  was  the  Spirit  that 
was  preaching,  and  in  short,  sharp,  emphatic  sen- 
tences he  recalls  the  admonitions  of  which  he  was 
only  the  vehicle  or  instrument : 

Do  nothing  without  the  bishop. 

Keep  your  flesh  as  the  temple  of  God. 

Love  unity,  flee  from  divisions. 

Be  imitators  of  Jesus  Christ, 

As  he  was  also  of  his  Father.'' 

'He  likens  himself  to  a  " fellow-servant "  with  the  deacons, 
Ephes.  ii;  Smyrn.,  xii. 

"  Ephes.  xi,  2.  3  Trail.,  v,  2. 

*  Philad.,  vii;  cp.  Lindsay,  op.  cit.,  189',  "an  example  of  the 
prophetic  utterances. ' ' 


The  Church  as  Sphere  of  Salvation  179 

For  Ignatius  the  world  is  hastening  to  its  end; 
these  are  the  last  times;  the  choice  must  be  made 
between  the  coming  wrath  or  the  present  grace 
embodied  in  the  Church.^  Over  against  the  ac- 
tivity of  the  Ruler  of  this  world,  he  sees  the  vast 
immeasurable  design  of  God,  working  through 
Patriarchs  and  Prophets,  the  Apostles  and  the 
Church,  who  all  enter  into  the  hidden  things  of  the 
Father  through  the  door  of  Christ.^  The  organ- 
ization of  the  Church,  therefore,  is  part  of  the 
providential  order.  It  consists  in  respecting 
"the  deacons  as  Jesus  Christ,  even  as  the  bishop 
is  also  a  type  of  the  Father,  and  the  presby- 
ters as  the  council  of  God  and  the  College  of 
Apostles.  Without  these  there  is  nothing  to  call 
a  Church."^  By  more  frequent  meetings  for 
God's  Eucharist  and  glory  the  powers  of  Satan 
might  be  destroyed.'* 

In  the  great  warfare  with  Evil,  therefore,  which 
every  Christian  was  bound  to  wage,  the  first  thing 
needful  was  to  strengthen  the  life  of  the  churches. 
He  denounces  the  indifference  or  the  pride  of  those 
who  neglect  the  appointed  worship,  or  will  not 
join  in  the  common  assembly.  "Come  together,  " 
he  cries,  "as  to  one  temple  of  God,  one  altar,  one 
Jesus  Christ.  "5  With  the  Judaizers  on  the  one 
part  and  the  Docetic  heretics  on  the  other  he  will 
make  no  compromise.  As  children  of  the  light  of 
truth  the  faithful  must  flee  from  division  and  evil 

^  Ephes.  xi,  1.  ^  Philad.,  ix,  i.  i  Trail.,  in,  i. 

4  Ephes.  xiii,  l.  s  Ibid.,  v,  2;  Magnes.,  vii,  2. 


i8o       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

teaching. '  To  the  Smyrneans  he  recites  a  kind  of 
confession  of  faith,  laying  emphatic  stress  upon 
Christ's  wondrous  birth,  his  baptism,  his  cruci- 
fixion and  resurrection,^  against  the  unbelievers 
who  affirmed  that  all  these  events  were  merely 
semblance.  These  were  the  real  charters  of  the 
faith,  guaranteed  by  prophecy;  they  were  con- 
firmed by  the  contrast  between  the  charity  of  the 
believers  and  the  selfishness  of  the  heretics.  They 
cared  nothing  for  love,  nothing  for  the  widow  or 
orphan;  the  afflicted,  the  prisoner,  the  hungry  and 
thirsty,  they  left  severely  alone  in  their  need.  It 
was  a  practical  test.  Did  Ignatius  apply  it  without 
prejudice?^ 

Against  these  dangers  there  was  one  unfaiHng 
remedy,  union  with  the  Church,  obedience  to  its 
threefold  ministry.  In  these  guardians  and  help- 
ers of  faith  and  practice  the  imagination  of  Igna- 
tius discerned  the  most  august  personaHties.  The 
meeting  of  believers  united  earth  and  heaven ;  the 
bishop  presided  in  the  place  of  God,  and  the  pres- 
byters in  the  place  of  the  council  of  the  Apostles, 
and  the  deacons  were  entrusted  with  the  ministry 
{diaconia)  of  Jesus  Christ,  who  was  from  eternity 
with  the  Father,  and  was  made  manifest  at  the 
end  of  time.  "* 

In  the^divine  household  as  in  the  human  any  one 
sent  by  the  householder  ought  to  be  received  like 
the  master  of  the  house  himself.     Clearly,  there- 

I  PJiilad.,  ii,  6;  Trail,  vi,  ll.  '  Cp.  Smyrn.,  i-vi. 

3  Ibid.,  vi.  *  Magnes.,  vi,  i. 


The  Church  as  Sphere  of  Salvation  i8i 

fore,  the  bishop  should  be  regarded  as  the  Lord 
himself. '  As  many  as  are  of  God  and  Jesus  Christ 
are  with  the  bishop,  and  "with  him  the  presbyters 
and  deacons  have  been  appointed  aceording  to  the 
mind  of  Christ,  and  he  established  them  in  security 
according  to  his  own  will  by  his  holy  Spirit."* 
"Follow  the  bishop,"  is  the  repeated  injunction, 
— for  there  is  the  loftiest  of  examples, — "as 
Jesus  Christ  follows  the  Father,  and  the  pres- 
bytery as  if  it  were  the  Apostles,  and  reverence 
the  deacons  as  the  command  of  God."^  Only  on 
such  conditions  can  men  be  Christians  in  reality 
and  not  merely  in  name.  Know  God  and  the 
bishop  and  do  nothing  without  him."*  To  his 
junior,  Polycarp,  he  sets  forth  the  pattern  of  the 
bishop's  duties;  in  the  bishop  of  Philadelphia  he 
had  seen  it  realized  in  the  love  of  God  the 
Father  and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  he  was  ' '  attuned 
to  the  commandmicnt  as  a  harp  to  its  strings.  "^ 
Such  was  the  teaching  of  the  Syrian  Ignatius. 
Apart  from  its  imaginative  investiture  it  reveals 
an  important  fact.  In  church  after  church  in 
Syria  and  Asia  Minor  the  maintenance  of  the 
faith,  the  regulation  of  worship,  the  control  of 
conduct — the  whole  agency  of  salvation — was 
assigned  to  a  single  officer,  the  bishop,  with  a 
group   of  presbyters   and   deacons   around   him. 

'  Ephes.,  vi,  I.  '  Philad.,  Salutation,  iii,  2. 

i  Smyrn.,  viii.  *  Magnes.,  iv;  Smyrn.,  ix,  i. 

^Philad.,  i;  a  favourite  metaphor;  so  should  the  presbytery 
be  united  with  the  bishop,  Ephes.,  iv. 


1 82       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

In  others,  such  as  that  at  Philippi,  where  Poly- 
carp  afterwards  urges  obedience  to  the  presbyters 
and  deacons  as  to  God  and  Christ, '  this  stage  of 
ecclesiastical    evolution    had    not    been   reached. 
Rome  itself,  it  would  seem,  had  still  no  bishop. 
The  causes  which  had  produced  this  development 
we  can  only  surmise;  they  were  no  doubt  numer- 
ous and  complex,  but  they  operated  over  a  wide 
area  and  tended  at  different  rates  to  a  common 
result.     The  estabUshment  of  a  new  church  at 
once  begot  a  number  of  questions.     Where  should 
it  meet?     What  provision  should  be  made  for  its 
worship  and  for  its  sacred  meal?     Its  works  of 
heaUng  might  be  carried  on  in  the  sufferer's  own 
home,  ^  but  exorcisms  were  probably  performed  in 
the  assembly  where  the  prayers  of  the  beHevers 
could  assist  the  process.  ^     How  should  the  rehef 
of  its  poor  be  regulated,  the  maintenance  of  its 
widows  upheld,    the   character   of  new   converts 
tested,  the  candidates  for  baptism  prepared,  the 
steadfastness  of  believers  ensured?     In  the  im- 
mense novelties  which  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel 
brought  with  it,  the  rush  of  fresh  life  flowed  into 
innumerable    different    channels,    and    expressed 
itself  in  manifold  diversity  of  forms.     Some  ele- 
ments of  stability  must  be  found,  and  the  external 
management  fell  to  small  bodies  corresponding 

'  Ep.  Polyc,  V,  3.  '  James  v,  14. 

3  In  the  Testament  of  our  Lord  (fourth  century)  the  church  is 
to  have  a  house  for  the  catechumens  and  exorcists,  arranged  so 
that  Scripture-readings  and  hymns  could  be  heard  in  it.  Cooper 
and  Maclean  (1902),  p.  63. 


The  Church  as  Sphere  of  Salvation'_i83 

in  secular  terms  to  the  modern  committee.  The 
chief  duty  of  superintendence  devolved  at  first 
upon  the  seniors  among  the  first  adherents,  and 
in  due  time  they  associated  with  themselves  helpers 
from  the  younger  men  and  occasionally  from  women, 
for  purposes  of  practical  service  and  administra- 
tion. In  any  such  body  some  would  be  naturally 
more  distinguished  above  others.  One  would  be 
more  influential  by  wealth  or  position  or  dignity 
of  character.  Another  might  be  more  zealous 
and  eager;  a  third  more  gentle  and  sympathetic. 
The  first  churches  seem  to  have  met  in  private 
houses ;  at  Ephesus  Aquila  and  Prisca  received  the 
meeting ;  so  did  Philemon  at  Colosse,  and  Nymphas 
at  Laodicea ;  Gaius  was  its  host  at  Corinth. '  Some 
pre-eminence  would  naturally  be  accorded  to  such 
householders.  Their  aid  would  be  sought,  their 
counsel  invited.  The  requirement  of  a  later  day 
that  bishops  should  be  hospitable  men,  able  to 
take  in  the  servants  of  God  into  their  houses  and 
shelter  the  widows  and  the  destitute,^  points  in 
the  same  direction.  In  church  meetings  one  or 
another  would  at  different  times  and  for  different 
purposes  take  the  leading  part.  When  communi- 
cations were  addressed  to  adjoining  churches, 
someone  must  write  them;  when  they  were 
received,  someone  must  read  them  to  the  congre- 

^'Rom.  xvi,  5,  23;  Philetn.  2;  Col.  iv,  15.  Even  in  wealthy 
Carthage  as  late  as  Cyprian's  day  (250  a.d.)  this  practice  con- 
tinued. 

'  Hennas,  Shepherd,  Sim.  IX,  xxvii,  2. 


184       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

gation.  Great  value  was  attached  to  such  inter- 
course. The  messenger  was  the  representative 
of  the  whole  community.  As  Ignatius  passed 
through  Asia  Minor  he  learned  that  his  bereaved 
flock  at  Antioch  had  emerged  from  its  diffi- 
culties and  obtained  "peace."  The  neighbouring 
churches  had  sent  their  officers — bishops,  presby- 
ters, deacons — with  their  congratulations.  He 
begs  the  Philadelphians  to  do  the  same ;  and  as  he 
is  bidding  Asia  farewell  on  the  shore  of  Troas  he 
writes  to  Polycarp,  instructing  him  to  summon  a 
godly  council  at  Smyrna  and  appoint  someone 
dearly  beloved  and  zealous  who  may  be  despatched 
from  the  church  to  Syria  as  "God's  courier" 
with  assurance  of  their  joy.  ^  In  such  deputations 
someone  must  take  the  lead.  Many  considera- 
tions would  determine  the  choice  besides  ability 
to  travel.  Age,  weight  of  character,  readiness  of 
speech,  would  be  among  the  qualifications.  In 
the  church  meetings,  above  all,  someone  must 
preside,  just  as  in  the  private  consultations  of 
presbyters  and  deacons.  At  first  the  duty  might 
be  shared;  but  seniority,  external  position,  re- 
ligious ardour,  business  skill,  aptitude  whether  for 
teaching  or  management,  would  tend  to  concen- 
trate the  direction  of  church  affairs  in  one  person, 
who  was  found  most  fervent  in  spirit,  ablest  in 
counsel,  most  diligent  in  administration,  purest  in 
heart.  In  two  departments  of  church  life  this 
tendency  operated  with  the  same  effect.     The  rise 

'  Philad.,  x;  Polyc,  vii;  Smyrn.,  xi. 


The  Church  as  Sphere  of  Salvation  185 

of  various  attractive  forms  of  heresy  early  in  the 
second  century  laid  on   the  church  leaders  the 
responsibiHty  of  safeguarding  the  faith  and  pro- 
tecting believers  from  error.     And  the  danger  of 
increasing  worldliness  as  the  expectation  of  the 
immediacy  of  the  great  judgment  declined,  made 
it  urgently  needful  to  provide  for  those  who  had 
failed   to  maintain   the   strictness   of  their  first 
profession.     How  was  the  truth  to  be  guaranteed 
in  its  simplicity?     How  was  the  holiness  of  the 
Church  to  be  preserved  without  corruption  ?    The 
answer  to  these  questions  lies  in  the  development 
of  the  power  of  the  bishops,  and  the  growing  sense 
of  the  unity  of  the  Church,  to  which  Ignatius  had 
already  applied  the  epithet  Universal  or  Catholic.  ^ 
Each  church  was  in  idea,  at  least,  a  miniature 
of  the  heavenly  reality,  and  the  whole  community 
of  believers  was  thus  bound  together  into  one 
"brotherhood."     Each   fresh   convert   was   wel- 
comed into  a  society  that  spread  far  beyond  the 
local  congregation.     The  rapid  extension  of  Chris- 
tianity both  East  and  West  enabled  its  champions 
to  declare  that  it  was  to  be  found  in  every  nation ; 
its  foundation  on  the  Law  and  the  Prophets  as 
well  as  "the  Lord"  brought  it  into  the  age-long 
purposes  of  God;  the  presence  of  Christ  in  its 
worshipping  assemblies  and  the  possession  of  the 
gifts  of  the  Spirit  mysteriously  united  it  with  the 
very  being  of  Deity;  and  through  the  passion  of 
martyrs  and  the  holiness  of  saints  fresh  links  were 

^  Smym.,  viii,  2. 


1 86       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

perpetually  renewed  between  its  earthly  sojourn 
and  its  eternal  home  on  high.  In  the  meantime, 
as  they  waited  for  the  coming  of  the  Lord,  city 
and  village  were  constantly  interested  in  each  other. 
Even  the  smallest  churches  must  be  duly  organ- 
ized. If  the  Httle  group  of  believers  could  not 
muster  twelve  persons  competent  to  vote  for  a 
bishop,  let  them  communicate  with  neighbouring 
congregations,  and  one  that  was  well  estabHshed 
would  send  over  three  chosen  deputies  to  examine 
the  qualifications  of  the  brother  whom  it  was 
proposed  to  elect.'  He  must  be  of  good  report 
among  those  who  were  not  Christians,  blameless 
in  character  and  conduct,  no  drunkard  or  adulterer, 
but  once  married,  incapable  of  slander  or  favour- 
itism, a  lover  of  the  poor.  Well  was  it  if  he  were 
educated  and  able  to  interpret  the  Scriptures. 
If  he  were  illiterate,  he  must  be  meek  and  full  of 
love  to  all.  Beside  him  must  be  two  presbyters  at 
least,  who  should  look  after  the  bishop  at  the  altar 
as  well  as  after  the  congregation.  The  super- 
visor must  be  himself  supervised,  in  the  matter 
of  the  gifts  brought  to  the  altar  in  divine  service. 
The  church  administration  is  no  autocracy  in  the 
hands  of  the  bishop.  A  real  control  is  still  vested 
in  the  presbyters;  the  episcopal  authority  is  not 
yet  complete. 

'  See  the  Sources  of  the  Apostolic  Canons,  translated  from  Har- 
nack's  essay,  Texte  und  Untersuch.,  II,  v,  i8,  by  Wheatley  (1895), 
This  fragment  of  early  Church  law,  disinterred  by  Hamack's 
critical  sagacity,  is  placed  by  him  between  140  and  180  a.d. 


The  Church  as  Sphere  of  Salvation  187 

Many  circumstances,  however,  tended  to  con- 
firm it.  In  danger  and  difficulty  the  chief  re- 
sponsibility fell  upon  the  leaders.  Against  them 
were  the  shafts  of  persecution  first  directed.  With 
them  lay  the  duty  of  guarding  the  faithful  against 
heresy.  The  intellectual  activity  which  produced 
the  various  types  of  Gnostic  teaching  found  in 
them  its  chief  opponents.  They  were  invited  to 
advise  on  deHcate  questions  such  as  the  treatment 
of  offenders  against  the  standards  of  Christian 
morals.  They  directed  the  flow  of  charity,  the 
contributions  made  from  large  centres  to  poorer 
congregations  at  a  distance,  or  to  brethren  sen- 
tenced to  the  grievous  labour  of  the  mines.  Local 
differences  of  ritual  usage  were  referred  to  their 
judgment.  The  outbreak  of  any  spontaneous 
movement  threatening  their  authority  naturally 
closed  their  ranks  in  defence. 

The  abounding  life  of  the  Church  in  the  second 
century  made  various  calls  on  its  most  distinguished 
men.  The  energy  of  speculation  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  problems  arising  out  of  the  entrance  of 
multitudes  of  converts  drawn  by  various  motives 
on  the  other,  brought  diverse  perils  and  occasioned 
manifold  anxieties.  As  the  decades  ran  on,  liter- 
ature, the  greater  part  of  which  has  perished,  was 
produced  in  abundance;  but  the  chief  external 
means  for  heightening  the  influence  of  the  bishop 
were  travel,  correspondence,  and  meetings.  On 
him  it  devolved  to  receive  the  brethren  who  came 
from  abroad  with  loving  words.     They  brought 


1 88       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

news  of  the  welfare  of  other  churches,  and  sought 
advice  as  to  the  means  of  meeting  heresy,  or  heal- 
ing schism.  The  Jewish  convert  Hegesippus  made 
a  slow  journey  to  Rome  in  the  middle  of  the  cen- 
tury, noting  the  teaching  which  he  heard  from 
place  to  place.  He  sojourned  long  at  Corinth, 
where  Primus  was  Bishop,  and  he  and  the  church 
"were  mutually  refreshed  in  the  true  doctrine." 
Such  conferences  enabled  him  to  declare  that  in 
every  succession  and  in  every  city  he  had  found 
faithful  adherence  to  the  truths  of  "the  Law,  the 
Prophets,  and  the  Lord.  "^ 

Among  the  bishops  who  followed  Primus  at 
Corinth  was  Dionysius  whose  "cathoHc  letters" 
were  widely  circulated.  He  admonished  the  La- 
cedaemonians against  internal  quarrels,  and  rebuked 
the  Athenians  for  almost  apostatizing  from  the 
Gospel  after  the  martyrdom  of  their  Bishop 
Publius,  though  he  bore  witness  that  through  the 
zeal  of  his  successor  their  faith  had  revived.  To 
the  churches  in  Bithynia  and  Pontus  on  the  Black 
Sea  he  sends  explanations  of  Scripture  and  recom- 
mendations of  clemency  in  dealing  with  delin- 
quents or  heretics.  He  thanks  Soter,  Bishop  of 
Rome,"  for  a  letter  which  had  been  read  that 
Lord's  day  in  the  church  meeting,  and  would  be  a 
source  of  advice  (like  that  of  Clement)  whenever 
they  read  it  again.     The  Bishop  of  Cnossus  in 

'  Euseb.,  Hist.  Eccl.  IV,  xxii,  1-3, 

'Probable  date  of  his  episcopate  166  (i67)-i74  (175)  a.d. 
(Lipsius). 


The  Church  as  Sphere  of  Salvation  189 

Crete,  Pinytus,  was  counselled  not  to  lay  on  the 
brethren  too  heavy  a  burden  in  the  matter  of 
chastity,  but  to  have  regard  to  human  infirmity. 
Such  concessions  might  well  seem  perilously  lax, 
and  Pinytus  recommended  his  episcopal  corre- 
spondent to  impart  more  solid  food  next  time; 
such  milky  teaching  was  only  fit  for  children. 
This  dissemination  of  general  counsel,  even  when 
undertaken  by  request,  was  not  without  its  risks, 
for  Dionysius  complains  that  as  his  letters  were 
passed  from  hand  to  hand  apostles  of  the  Devil 
filled  them  with  tares,  excising  some  passages  and 
inserting  others.'  Such  charges  of  mishandling 
are  only  too  frequent. 

The  growing  sense  of  interconnection  among  the 
churches  finds  interesting  illustration  in  the  ritual 
difference  which  threatened  to  produce  serious 
disunion  in  the  latter  part  of  the  second  century 
between  East  and  West.  Somewhere  about  154 
A.D.  the  venerable  Bishop  of  Smyrna,  Polycarp, 
then  over  eighty  years  of  age,  visited  Rome. 
Among  the  subjects  on  which  he  conferred  with 
the  newly  elected  Bishop,  Anicetus,  was  the  time 
of  the  celebration  of  the  Easter  festival.  The 
churches  of  Asia  Minor  followed  what  they  be- 
lieved to  be  the  practice  of  the  Apostle  John  at 
Ephesus;  the  Western  usage  observed  another 
rule.  Polycarp  did  not  persuade  his  brother  of 
Rome,  but  no  constraint  was  put  upon  him,  and 
he  was  invited  to  preside  at  the  Eucharistic  service 

'Euseb.,  Hist.  EccL,  IV,  xxiii. 


190  -    Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

in  token  of  respect.  The  divergence  subsequently 
became  more  acute.  Assemblies  of  bishops  were 
summoned,  and  by  synod  and  letter  the  question 
was  eagerly  discussed  all  the  way  from  Mesopo- 
tamia to  Gaul.  On  the  shores  of  the  Black  Sea, 
on  the  hills  of  Palestine,  at  Alexandria  and  Rome, 
the  proper  date  for  the  festival  of  the  resurrection 
became  the  chief  interest.  In  the  last  decade  of 
the  century  Victor,  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  suggested 
to  Polycrates  of  Ephesus  to  call  a  council  of  his 
Asian  colleagues.  A  "great  multitude "  responded, 
and  authorized  Polycrates  to  defend  their  ancient 
custom.  Polycrates  supported  it  with  the  tradi- 
tion of  eminent  saints  and  martyrs,  as  well  as  of 
his  own  family,  seven  of  whom  had  been  bishops 
like  himself.  He  had  lived,  he  wrote,  to  the  age 
of  sixty-five,  he  had  met  the  brethren  throughout 
the  world,  he  had  studied  every  passage  in  Scrip- 
ture, and  he  was  not  afraid  of  terrifying  words. 
A  conflict  of  authorities  was  threatened.  From 
Rome  Victor  took  the  extreme  step  of  sending  out 
circular  letters  announcing  that  communion  with 
the  Asian  churches  was  entirely  cut  off.  But 
Rome  did  not  then  wield  the  terrors  of  a  later  day. 
Letters  poured  in  rebuking  Victor  for  his  harsh- 
ness, and  pleading  for  unity  and  peace.'  The 
attempted  suspension  of  communion  had  no  prac- 
tical effect,  but  by  degrees  the  Roman  usage 
prevailed;  and  the  bishops  at  Nicasa  in  325  a.d. 
finally  declared  it  binding  on  the  whole  Church. 

'  The  whole  story  is  told  by  Eusebius,  Hist.  EccL,  V,  xxiii-xxv. 


The  Church  as  Sphere  of  Salvation  191 

While  a  question  of  external  observance  thus 
brought  the  bishops  into  the  field  as  the  representa- 
tives of  ritual  tradition,  a  far  more  important 
place  was  vindicated  for  them  as  the  upholders  of 
doctrinal  tradition.  By  the  middle  of  the  second 
century  the  struggle  with  the  various  types  of 
speculation  commonly  included  under  the  name 
of  Gnosticism  had  become  acute.  The  Church 
teachers  were  realizing  their  danger,  and  a  vigor- 
ous controversial  literature  began.  To  this  the 
active  pen  of  Irenaeus  of  Lyons  made  the  most 
important  surviving  contribution.  All  the  dispu- 
tants started  from  a  common  assumption.  The 
first  condition  of  salvation  was  correct  belief. 
Where,  then,  was  the  truth  to  be  found,  what  was 
its  source,  how  had  it  been  transmitted,  what  was 
its  guarantee?  Against  the  pretensions  of  the 
numerous  founders  of  sects  Irenaeus  vindicated 
the  claims  of  the  Church,  her  Scriptures,  and  her 
Tradition.  One  path,  and  one  alone,  would  lead 
to  heaven;  it  was  that  disclosed  by  the  preaching 
of  the  Church  maintained  in  steadfastness  through- 
out the  world.  To  her  had  been  entrusted  the 
light  of  God,  the  divine  Wisdom  by  which  all 
men  might  be  saved ;  the  truth  was  in  her  keeping, 
and  she  had  proclaimed  it  universally.'  She  was 
the  great  bank  of  the  faith,  where  the  precious 
deposit  had  been  lodged  by  the  Apostles.  Through 
her  and  her  alone  lay  the  entrance  into  life. ' 

The  first  significant  fact  for  Irenaeus  is  the  wide 

^  Adv.  Ilcer.,  V,  xx,  i.  '  Ibid.,  Ill,  iv,  i. 


192       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

diffusion  of  the  Church.  She  is  spread  through 
the  whole  world,  she  touches  the  ends  of  the  earth. 
From  East  to  West  she  announces  the  same 
creed;  from  Syria  to  Spain,  from  Asia  to  Gaul, 
from  Libya  to  Germany,  she  believes  with  one 
soul  and  teaches  with  one  mouth. '  The  languages 
of  the  faithful  might  differ,  but  their  doctrine  was 
the  same.  The  teachers  of  heresy  might  invent 
what  systems  of  ^ons  they  pleased ;  the  makers  of 
schisms  might  multiply  their  separate  assemblies; 
but  they  could  not  deny  that  the  whole  Church 
through  the  whole  universe  cherished  one  and  the 
same  faith.  To  this  immense  extent  and  splendid 
unity  of  its  saving  work  the  experience  of  every  day 
bore  emphatic  witness.  It  was  fitting  that  the 
Church  which  was  to  bring  redemption  within 
everyone's  reach  should  be  found  everywhere. 
In  every  direction  it  outdistanced  its  foes. 

But,  secondly,  the  Church  possesses  the  Scrip- 
tures. The  centre  of  its  truth  is  God,  the  Father 
and  Creator  of  all,  who  by  his  Word  and  Wisdom 
made  heaven  and  earth  and  sea  and  all  things 
therein;  who  formed  man,  and  brought  on  the 
flood,  and  saved  Noah;  the  God  of  Abraham  and 
Isaac  and  Jacob,  the  God  of  the  living;  whom 
the  Law  announces,  whom  the  Prophets  foretell, 
whom  Christ  reveals,  whom  the  Apostles  hand 
on,  and  in  whom  the  Church  believes.^  On  the 
demonstration  of  the  adequacy  of  the  Scripture 
testimony  Irenseus  dwells  with  much  care.     He 

^  Ibid.,  I,  X,  1-2,  » Ibid.,  II,  xxx,  9. 


The  Church  as  Sphere  of  Salvation  193 

vindicates  the  antiquity  of  Isaiah's  prophecy  of  the 
Parthenos-mother, '  observing  that  it  was  trans- 
lated into  Greek  by  the  Jews  themselves  long  be- 
fore the  Lord's  birth  from  the  Virgin,  so  that  there 
could  be  no  suspicion  of  humouring  the  Christians 
by  their  choice  of  terms ;  and  he  tells  the  legend  of 
the  miraculous  agreement  of  the  Seventy  Elders 
who  made  their  renderings  of  the  sacred  books 
independently,  and  found  on  comparing  them  that 
they  coincided  word  for  word.^  Of  the  Gospel 
origins  he  gathers  up  a  few  scattered  details,  and 
after  the  fashion  of  the  day  by  a  series  of  numer- 
ical harmonies  justifies  their  number  four.  For 
as  there  are  four  regions  of  the  world  which  we 
inhabit,  and  four  chief  winds,  ^  while  the  Church 
is  spread  over  all  the  earth,  and  the  pillar  and 
ground  of  the  Church  are  the  breath  of  life,  it  is 
fitting  that  she  should  have  four  pillars  breathing 
out  immortality  on  every  side,  and  quickening 
men  anew.""  Such  arguments  (and  there  are 
others)  are  not  convincing.  Their  employment 
indicates  that  the  books  which  stand  at  the  head 
of  our  New  Testament  had  been  so  long  and  so 
generally  established  in  supremacy  that  no  further 
proofs  were  required. 

Behind  Gospel  and  Prophecy  and  Law  lies  the 
whole  history  of  humanity.     To  this  great  theme 

'  Isaiah  vii,  14.  '  Adv.  HcBres.,  Ill,  xxi,  1-2. 

3  KdOoKiKh.  TTvevfjMTa.     Ircnccus  docs  not  happen  to  use  the  term 
"catholic"  of  the  Church. 
*Adv.  Hares.,  Ill,  xi,  8. 
13 


194       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

of  the  continuity  of  Providence  Irenasus  recurs 
again  and  again  with  a  solemn  joy.  It  fills  his 
imagination  and  begets  a  sense  of  absolute  security 
which  can  support  the  most  incongruous  applica- 
tions. In  the  Gospel  parable  God  planted  the 
vineyard  of  the  human  race  at  the  creation ;  he  let 
it  out  to  husbandmen  at  the  giving  of  the  Law; 
when  he  ordained  the  priestly  worship  of  the  sacred 
Dwelling  he  hedged  it  round  about ;  in^  the  choice 
of  Jerusalem  he  built  a  tov/er;  the  winepress 
hollowed  in  the  rock  provided  a  receptacle  for  the 
Holy  Spirit.  Vainly  did  the  prophets  appeal  to  an 
unbelieving  people;  the  wicked  husbandmen  slew 
even  God's  own  Son.  The  vineyard  passed  to 
other  cultivators,  hedged  in  no  more  but  thrown 
open  to  the  whole  world;  in  every  place  was  the 
tower  of  election  raised,  the  wine-press  dug. 
From  first  to  last  one  and  the  same  Father  planned 
and  wrought  the  great  design.^  From  the  call  of 
Abraham,  therefore,  at  every  stage  in  his  posterity, 
the  Church  is  in  sight.  Even  Lot's  wife  in  her 
pillar  becomes  a  type.  Was  not  the  Church  the 
salt  of  the  earth,  and  while  the  martyrs  went  for- 
ward to  the  heavenly  life  was  not  she  left  behind, 
exposed  to  the  vicissitudes  of  human  things,  yet 
standing  like  a  column,  the  solid  foundation  of  the 
faith  ?^ 

Such  vindications  of  the  unity  of  creation,  his- 
tory, and  the  Gospel,  were  directed  alike  against 
Marcion's  hypothesis  of  two  Gods,  one  revealed 

'  Adv.HcBres.,  IV,  xxxvi,  1-2.     'Ibid.,  IV,  xxxi,  3,  cp.  xxxiii,  9. 


The  Church  as  Sphere  of  Salvation  195 

in  the  Old  Testament  and  the  other  in  the  New, 
and  against  the  various  Gnostic  schemes  of  ^ons 
for  connecting  the  ultimate  essence  of  the  invisible 
God  with  a  world  of  change  and  suffering  and  death. 
The  argument  had  then  to  be  carried  a  further 
stage.  Against  the  claim  to  possess  the  true  inter- 
pretation of  the  Gospel  by  means  of  a  secret  tradi- 
tion, the  Church  must  establish  the  authority  of 
its  own  Rule  of  Faith.  It  must  prove  itself  the 
trustworthy  guardian  of  the  sacred  deposit.  For 
this  purpose  Irenasus  appeals  to  the  unity  of  its 
teaching  from  the  days  of  the  Apostles  throughout 
all  the  world.  The  fidelity  of  the  first  preachers 
in  proclaiming  the  peace  of  heaven  to  men  is 
proved  by  the  descent  upon  them  of  the  Holy 
Spirit. '  But  the  stress  of  his  plea  lies  on  the  next 
step.  He  does  not  really  meet  the  Gnostic  objec- 
tions that  the  Apostles  themselves  adulterated  the 
Saviour's  words,  and  even  that  the  Lord  himself 
spoke  from  different  points  of  view,  ^  he  hastens  on 
to  the  demonstration  that  the  Church  has  faithfully 
preserved  the  original  teaching,  enshrined  in  the 
Scriptures  as  the  basis  and  support  of  the  faith. 

For  this  purpose  he  points  to  the  tradition  de- 
rived from  the  Apostles  and  guarded  by  successive 
presbyters.  It  might  be  seen  in  every  church 
throughout  the  world  by  those  who  cared  to  look 
at  truth;  but  it  sufficed  to  present  two  or  three 
examples  of  its  maintenance  in  churches  founded 
by  Apostles.     Peter  and  Paul  had  planted  it  in 

'  Adv.  HcBres.,  Ill,  i,  i.  » Ihid.,  Ill,  i,  2. 


196       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

Rome,  and  the  distinguished  origin  of  this  church 
made  it  a  proper  standard  for  comparison;  there 
was  the  norm  of  truth  with  which  the  faithful  in 
the  churches  everywhere  could  not  fail  to  agree.  ^ 
Irenaeus  then  proceeds  to  enumerate  the  series  of 
officers  from  the  days  of  the  blessed  Apostles  who 
had  held  the  episcope,  pausing  on  Clement,  whom 
he  assumes  to  have  seen  the  founders,  so  that  their 
preaching  still  sounded  in  his  ears.  There,  in  the 
Roman  letter  to  Corinth,  was  the  irrefragable 
proof  that  in  proclaiming  one  Almighty  God, 
Maker  of  heaven  and  earth,  the  Church  had  estab- 
lished the  apostolic  tradition  before  the  falsehoods 
of  heresy  had  been  devised.  The  same  witness  was 
borne  at  Ephesus  where  Paul  had  laboured  and  John 
had  lived  so  long.  At  Smyrna  Irenaeus  could  appeal 
to  the  teacher  of  his  own  youth,  Polycarp,  who  had 
(he  says)  conversed  with  many  who  had  seen  Christ 
himself,  and  had  been  appointed  Bishop  by  Apos- 
tles. With  him  his  successors  and  all  the  Asian 
churches  were  in  concord.  ^  Thus  was  the  ' '  plan  of 
salvation  "  {dispositio  salutis)  guaranteed.  On  this 
the  many  nations  of  strange  speech  justly  relied. 
They  might  possess  no  Scriptures,  they  might  use  no 
paper  or  ink,  but  the  Spirit  had  written  salvation 
on  their  hearts,  and  in  righteousness  and  chastity 
they  displayed  the  wisdom  of  faith.  ^ 

^  Adv.  Hcsres.,  Ill,  iii.  In  this  paraphrase  of  the  much  disputed 
description  of  the  Roman  Church  the  words  poliorem  principalita- 
tem  are  understood  to  mean  the  "superior  beginning"  (a.px'^v). 

'  Ibid.,  Ill,  iii,  3-4.  s  Ibid.,  Ill,  iv,  2. 


The  Church  as  Sphere  of  Salvation  197 

The  bond  of  unity  in  the  Church  was  thus 
realized  in  the  bishops.  They  transmitted  and 
expounded  the  Scriptures;  they  preserved  the 
apostoUc  teaching.  The  charisma  veritatis,  the  gift 
of  the  truth  bestowed  upon  mankind  in  the  Gospel, 
was  in  their  charge.'  BeUevers,  therefore,  must 
obey  the  presbyters  who  possess  the  succession 
of  the  Apostles.  It  was  only  the  heretics,  the 
schismatics,  or  the  hypocrites,  who  insisted  on 
holding  private  meetings  of  their  own.  ^  It  might 
be  that  Scripture,  like  Creation,  still  contained 
mysteries  beyond  our  power  to  explain. ^  "Let 
us  leave  them,"  said  Irenaeus  reverently,  "in  the 
hand  of  God,  not  only  in  this  life  but  in  that  which 
is  to  come,  that  God  may  for  ever  teach  and  man 
for  ever  learn."'' 

Such  a  Church,  ideally  founded  before  the  dawn 
of  time,  spread  before  human  sight  from  land  to 
land,  possessing  the  apostolic  doctrine,  and  bear- 
ing the  essential  mark  of  the  body  of  Christ  in  each 
local  church  through  the  sequences  of  its  bishops, 
is  the  home  of  the  true  Gnosis  (knowledge). 
Ancient   and  universal,  it   is   Scriptural   withal, 

1  This  docs  not  mean  that  they  were  miraculously  guarded 
against  error,  or  endowed  with  any  supernatural  power  of  de- 
fining or  developing  dogma.  It  was  a  historical  deposit,  not  a 
transcendental  capacity. 

2  Ibid.,  IV,  xxvi,  2. 

3  For  instance,  no  answer  could  be  given  to  the  question,  "What 
was  God  doing  before  he  made  the  world?  "  Cp.  August.,  Dc  Civ. 
Dei,  XI,  iv  ff. 

4  Ibid.,  II,  xxviii,  3. 


198       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

needing  no  forgeries  for  its  defence.  ^  But  it  does 
not  rely  only  on  the  testimony  and  interpretation 
of  the  past.  Still  does  prophecy  utter  revelations, 
as  the  brethren  speak  all  kinds  of  languages,  bring 
to  light  human  things,  and  declare  the  mysteries 
of  God.  ^  Still  do  they  see  visions,  drive  out  devils, 
heal  the  sick,  and  even  (with  much  fasting  and 
prayer)  raise  the  dead^;  the  gift  of  miracles  had 
not  passed  away.  Still  among  the  successors  of  the 
Apostles  is  behaviour  blameless  and  speech  un- 
corrupt.''  Still  does  the  Church  nourish  that  gift 
which  was  more  precious  than  knowledge  and  more 
glorious  than  prophecy,  the  gift  of  love.  Still 
in  virtue  of  that  love  towards  God  does  she  send 
forward  her  host  of  martyrs  to  the  Father,  and 
bear  the  reproach  of  those  who  suffer  persecution 
for  righteousness'  sake.  ^  But  still  does  she  renew 
her  youth  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  bestowed  on  the 
first  man  that  he  might  breathe,  but  on  her  that 
all  those  who  receive  it  may  be  endowed  with  life. 
That  is  what  secures  for  us  a  share  in  Christ.  It 
is  the  pledge  of  incorruption,  the  power  that 
strengthens  faith,  the  scala  ascensionis  ad  Deum, 
the  ladder  by  which  we  mount  to  God.  ^ 

'  Ibid.,  IV,  xxxiii,  8.  ^  Jbid.,  V,  vi,  i. 

3  Ibid.,  II,  xxxii,  4;  cp.  xxxi,  2. 

t  Ibid.,  IV,  xxvi.  On  the  holiness  of  the  Church  see  Lect. 
IV. 

5  Ibid.,  IV,  xxxiii,  8-9. 

<>  Ibid.,  Ill,  xxiv,  I.  For  TertulHan's  development  of  the  same 
line  of  argument  in  his  treatise  De  PrcEscriptione  IIcBreticorum, 
see  Note  B,  p.  210. 


The  Church  as  Sphere  of  Salvation  199 

It  was  undoubtedly  a  great  ideal.  In  defending 
it  against  heresy  Irenacus  was  not  concerned  to 
point  out  the  failure  of  the  actual  Church  to 
realize  it.  Warning  voices  had  again  and  again 
protested  against  its  growing  worldliness.  Old 
standards  were  gradually  modified ;  the  strictness 
of  early  ethical  demands  was  relaxed ;  the  problem 
of  how  to  deal  with  post-baptismal  sin  became 
acute.  When  Hermas  watched  the  building  of  the 
great  Tower  which  symbolized  the  Church,  he  saw 
the  various  stones  of  the  fabric  tested.  Some 
cracked,  some  proved  rotten,  others  were  all 
stained,  and  some  had  turned  black  as  pitch. 
They  were  removed  and  handed  to  twelve  women 
clothed  in  black,  whose  names  were  Unbelief,  Im- 
purity, Disobedience,  Deceit,  Grief,  Wickedness, 
Licentiousness,  Bitterness,  Lying,  Foolishness,  Evil- 
speaking,  Hate.  Double  would  be  their  punish- 
ment compared  with  those  who  had  never  known 
God;  they  should  die  for  ever.'  Even  church 
officers  could  not  always  maintain  their  integrity. 
The  generosity  of  believers  created  perpetual 
temptations.  Polycarp  deplores  the  fall  of  Valens, 
a  presbyter  at  Philippi,  through  avarice.  ^  Hermas 
denounces  unfaithful  deacons  who  appropriated 
to  themselves  funds  entrusted  to  their  administra- 
tion, and  devoured  the  living  of  widows  and  or- 
phans.^    But  the  gravest  danger  lies  in  the  false 

'  Shepherd,  Sim.  IX,  vi,  4;  xv,  3;  xviii,  2. 

^  Ad  Philipp.,  xi. 

J  Shepherd,  Sim.  IX,  xxvi,  2. 


200       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

prophets. '     They    played   the   part    of   heathen 
wizards,   and  professed  to  foretell  the  issues  of 
private  affairs;  large  fees  enabled  them  to  live  in 
laxury.     Between  the  earthly  spirit  which  came 
from  the  Devil  and  the  Spirit  from  God  there  was 
one  sure  means  of  judgment:  "Test  the  man  who 
has  the  divine  Spirit  by  his  life."     Meek,  gentle, 
lowly-minded,  poorest  among  men,  he  only  speaks 
when  God  wishes  him  to  speak.     The  Angel  of  the 
prophetic  Spirit  fills  him,  and  he  addresses  the 
congregation  as  the  Lord  wills.     Prophecy  has 
still    its    spontaneous    and    ecstatic    character.^ 
But  with  the  changes  which  have  gradually  caused 
the  disappearance  of  the  itinerant  apostolate,  it 
has  become  less  frequent,  less  enthusiastic.     Or- 
ganization has  taken  its  place.     The  energy  of 
behef  in  the  impending  return  of  Christ  and  the 
great  conflict  with  the  adversary,  which  was  one 
of  its  early  motives,  has  decHned.     The  Church 
has  adapted  itself  more  or  less  comfortably  to  the 
World.     We  pray,   says   Tertullian,   for   the  de- 
lay of  the  end.  3     Compromise   was  endangering 
sincerity.     The  sternness   of  the   primitive  mes- 
sage was  softened.     Was  it  possible   to  reassert 
the  stringency  of  its  first  demands?     This  was 
the   endeavour   of  what   was   called    "the  New 
Prophecy." 

'  Shepherd,  Mand.  XL     Cp.  Justin,  Dialogue,  Ixxxii. 
'  A  little  later  Clement  of  Alexandria  will  fix  on  this  as  the  mark 
of  the  false  prophet,  Strom.,  I,  xvii,  §853. 
3  Apologet.,  xxxii. 


The  Church  as  Sphere  of  Salvation  201 

The  movement  started  in  a  Mysian  village 
named  Ardabau,  on  the  borders  of  Phrygia.'  It 
was  initiated  by  a  convert  named  Montanus,  and 
was  interpreted  by  his  opponents  as  a  determined 
bid  for  leadership.  Disappointed  ambition  was 
often  assigned  as  a  cause  of  heresy,  and  in  the 
absence  of  any  statements  from  his  own  disciples^ 
for  all  their  literature  perished — there  remain 
only  the  charges  of  his  critics.  Seized  with 
ecstasy,  he  uttered  strange  words,  and  was  at 
first  rebuked  as  though  under  the  control  of  a  de- 
mon. But  he  was  not  to  be  repressed,  and  his 
enthusiasm  drew  to  his  side  some  women,  among 
them  Prisca  (or  Priscilla)^  and  Maximilla,  who 
left  their  husbands  to  promote  the  work,  and  a 
third  lady  named  Quintilla.  Phrygia  had  long 
been  the  home  of  different  types  of  orgiastic  cult ; 
and  the  "new  prophecy"  quickly  spread.  Differ- 
ent dates  are  assigned  to  its  rise;  it  began  most 
probably  about  157  A.D.;  in  twenty  years  it  is 
influential  in  the  West;  the  Bishop  of  Rome  con- 
siders it  favourably;  the  martyrs  at  Lyons  com- 
mend it ;  early  in  the  third  century  it  captures  the 
first  great  writer  of  the  Latin  Church,  the  learned 
and  ardent  lawyer  TertuUian  of  Carthage. 

What,   then,   was  the  nature  of  its  message? 

'  See  the  quotations  from  an  unnamed  writer  in  Euseb.,  Hist. 
EccL,  V,  xvi,  7.  Further  details,  ibid.,  17-19.  Bonwetsch's 
Cesch.  des  Montanism.  (1881)  is  still  the  most  useful  monograph; 
cp.  his  article  in  the  Prot.  Real-Encycl.    (1903),  xiii,  417. 

^  Her  prominence  led  to  the  designation  of  her  followers  as 
Priscillianists. 


202       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

Its  form  was  primarily  a  revival  of  the  ecstatic 
teaching  of  the  first  days.     Its  content  was  pri- 
marily eschatological.     The  few  strange  sayings  of 
Montanus  and  his  prophetesses  which  later  writers 
report'  provide  valuable  clues,  even  if  they  may 
be  somewhat  distorted  from  their  original  form. 
Montanus    appears    to    have    believed    that    the 
promise   of   the   Paraclete    (the    "Advocate"    or 
"Comforter,"  John  xiv,    16-17)   was  fulfilled  in 
himself.     More  than  the  gift  of  Holy  Spirit  be- 
stowed on  the  Apostles  was  vouchsafed  to  him. 
As  the  Gospel  announced  that  the  Father  would 
himself  come  and  Jesus  with  him  to  those  who 
were  loving  and  obedient,  Montanus  was  said  to 
have  declared  that  the  Lord  God  the  Father  had 
come  in  his  person,  and  even  "I  am  the  Father 
and  the  Son  and  the  Paraclete."^     The  purpose 
of  this  supreme  manifestation  was  to  announce 
the  approaching  end  of  the  world.     The  expecta- 
tions of  the  first  days  were  revived.     Maximilla 
proclaimed  impending  wars  and  revolutions;  she 
felt  herself  hunted  like  a  wolf  from  the  flock;  "I 
am  no  wolf, "  she  cried,  "I  am  word  and  spirit  and 
power. "     Pepuza,  in  the  western  part  of  Phrygia,  ^ 

'  They  are  collected  by  Bonwetsch,  op.  cit.,  pp.  197-199. 

"  Apropos  of  this  dependence  on  the  fourth  Gospel  Harnack 
has  remarked  that  "the  first  decided  opponents  of  the  Montan- 
ists  in  Asia— the  so-called  Alogi  "—rejected  the  apostolic  author- 
ship of  both  the  Gospel  and  the  Apocalypse.  Hist,  of  Dogma 
(Engl,  transl.),  Vol.  ii,  p.  99,  note  2. 

3  ApoUonius,  cited  by  Euseb.,  Hist.  EccL,  V,  xviii,  2,  adds 
Tymion. 


The  Church  as  Sphere  of  Salvation  203 

became  the  centre  of  the  teaching.  Priscilla  had 
a  strange  vision  in  which  Christ  appeared  to  her 
in  the  form  of  a  woman  with  shining  garments, 
and  revealed  to  her  that  it  would  be  a  holy  place, 
and  Jerusalem  would  descend  there  from  the  skies. 
There,  it  would  seem,  Montanus  sought  to  gather 
the  faithful  out  of  the  temptations  of  the  world, 
and  establish  a  community  of  saints  unstained  by 
its  sordidness  to  await  the  great  event.  The  right- 
eous, he  promised,  should  shine  a  hundred-fold 
more  than  the  sun;  and  even  "the  Httle  ones" 
should  be  a  hundred  times  brighter  than  the 
moon. 

Meantime  a  stricter  practice  was  enforced. 
The  rule  of  life  was  severe.  Montanus  was 
charged  with  dissolving  marriages';  they  were 
allowed  but  once.  Fasts  of  a  much  severer  type 
were  enjoined;  they  no  doubt  promoted  the  con- 
ditions for  seeing  visions  and  receiving  revelations. 
Missionaries  were  despatched  to  win  adherents  in 
other  churches,  and  the  movement  began  to  attract 
general  attention.  It  coincided  with  the  agitation 
about  the  right  time  for  the  Easter  celebration. 
Synods  of  bishops  were  summoned  to  deal  with  it. 
They  attempted  to  refute  Maximilla,  but  her 
followers  triumphed;  they  endeavoured  to  sup- 
press Themiso,  one  of  the  leaders  after  Montanus 
and  a  former  confessor,  but  in  vain.     The  disciples 

'  Apollonius  in  Euscb.,  op.  cit.  The  charge  may  have  been 
founded  on  the  fact  that  Priscilla  and  Alaximilla  did  leave  their 
families. 


204       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

were  expelled  from  the  churches  and  refused  com- 
munion. The  Bishop  of  Antioch,  Serapion,  sent 
round  a  letter  against  "this  lying  band  of  the 
New  Prophecy,"'  which  contained  testimonies 
from  several  bishops,  among  them  one  from  the 
Bishop  of  Debeltum  in  Thrace,  who  reported  that 
when  Priscilla  had  visited  that  region  the  Bishop  of 
Anchialus  had  sought  to  cast  the  demon  out  of 
her,  but  the  hypocrites  would  not  allow  him.^ 
All  kinds  of  malicious  accusations  were  circulated 
against  the  prophets.  Montanus  had  established 
a  financial  organization  for  the  support  of  the 
community  and  its  teachers.  The  men  v/ere 
charged  with  gambling  and  dyeing  their  hair,  the 
women  with  fondness  for  expensive  dress.  Their 
martyrs  were  disparaged,  and  Catholics  in  the 
same  prison  refused  to  have  fellowship  with  them. 
Yet  they  used  the  same  Scriptures  and  cherished 
the  same  doctrines.  In  the  stress  of  increasing 
pressure  from  the  ecclesiastical  organization  which 
gained  strength  with  every  decade,  Montanism 
failed  to  establish  itself  in  the  West.  In  Africa^ 
it  maintained  a  precarious  hold  for  more  than  two 
hundred  years,  for  a  tombstone  of  the  fifth  century 
bore  the  inscription,  "In  the  name  of  the  Father 

'  A  Syrian  bishop  had  induced  some  of  his  flock  to  march  out 
with  wives  and  children  into  the  mountains  to  meet  Christ, — an 
eastern  parallel  to  the  march  of  the  Doukhobors  in  Canada  a  few 
years  ago. 

2  Euseb.,  Hist.  EccL,  V,  xix,  3. 

3  It  has  often  been  argued  that  the  famous  martyrs  Perpetua 
and  her  companions  (probably  in  203)  were  Montanists. 


The  Church  as  Sphere  of  Salvation  205 

and  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Lord  Montanus."' 
In  Asia  Minor,  however,  it  possessed  a  more 
vigorous  Hfc.  Its  discipHne  was  upheld  with 
great  severity;  no  open  sinners  were  tolerated; 
almost  every  transgression  was  punished  with 
expulsion.  Founded  on  the  belief  in  the  impend- 
ing dissolution  of  this  mortal  scene,  it  had  to  pay 
the  price  of  its  own  continued  existence,  and 
it  developed  regular  orders,  bishops,  priests,  and 
deacons,  with  a  succession  of  patriarchs  at  Pepuza. 
Ecstatic  prophecy  could  not  supply  an  enduring 
basis  for  Church  life.  Intermittent  and  excep- 
tional in  its  operation,  it  gave  way  before  the  co- 
hesion of  a  wide-spread  and  permanent  ministry. 
In  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries  Montanism  came 
under  the  ban  of  imperial  legislation.  Justinian 
finally  resolved  on  its  suppression,  and  it  vanishes 
from  our  view  as  the  devoted  leaders  gathered 
their  adherents  with  their  wives  and  children  into 
the  churches,  set  fire  to  the  buildings,  and  died  in 
the  flames.  ^ 

In  the  meantime  Catholic  organization  became 
more  and  more  clearly  conscious  of  its  own  func- 
tions. With  the  continued  cstabhshment  of  fresh 
congregations  new  problems  of  duty  arose,  and  the 
mutual  relations  of  Church  officials  needed  further 
definition.  Of  this  tendency  the  Canons  attrib- 
uted to  Hippolytus  of  Rome  early  in  the  third 

'  Corp.  Inscrr.  Lai.,  viii,  2272,  quoted  by  Achelis,  Das  Christen- 
thum  in  den  drci  crsten  Jahrhunderten,  ii,  p.  51. 

^  Procopius,  Historia  Arcana,  xi,  ed.  Dindorf,  iii,  p.  74. 


2o6       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

century  afford  interesting  illustration.  They 
served  as  the  base  of  later  and  more  elaborate 
manuals  of  Church  law. ' 

An  earlier  generation  had  recognized  a  series 
comprising  bishop,  presbyters,  readers,  deacons, 
and  widows.  "■  By  the  year  200  A.  D.  the  deacons 
had  acquired  greater  prominence,  and  they  stand 
in  the  third  place,  before  the  readers.  Martyrs 
and  confessors  may  under  certain  conditions  have 
the  rank  of  presbyters  without  further  ordination.  ^ 
Beside  the  widows,  engaged  in  prayer  and  fasting 
and  the  visitation  of  the  sick,  stand  certain  virgins. 
For  the  laity  various  duties  are  prescribed.  They, 
too,  must  pray  and  fast.  Daily  and  weekly  they 
must  be  diligent  in  attendance  at  the  worship  of 
the  community.  They  must  provide  the  offerings 
for  the  altar  and  the  alms  for  the  poor.  They 
must  not  forget  that  they  were  once  themselves 
catechumens,  and  they  must  be  willing  to  join 
those  yet  in  that  lower  stage  for  mutual  instruc- 
tion about  the  service  of  God,  ^  a  great  preservative 
against  trouble  from  demons.  But  they  have  one 
privilege.  They  can  join  in  the  election  of  the 
bishop. 

Various  are  the  bishop's  functions  as  he  super- 
intends  the   entire  Hfe  of   the  church.     He  pre- 

1  See  the  edition  by  Achelis  in  Texte  und  Untersuch.,  vi  (1891), 
Heft  4,  with  his  supplementary  discussion. 

2  Sources  of  the  Apostolic  Canons,  ante,  p.  186. 

3  The  presbjrters  appear  to  have  been  honorary,  having  the 
status  but  not  the  function. 

4  Canon  xxvii,  §246. 


The  Church  as  Sphere  of  Salvation  207 

sides  over  the  higher  solemnities  of  worship, 
though  his  presence  is  not  required  at  the  early- 
daily  prayer.  He  makes  the  oblations,  he  dis- 
tributes the  Eucharist,  he  supervises  the  Agape 
which  may  follow.  The  conduct  of  his  flock  is 
under  his  constant  inspection,  and  he  decides 
what  catechumens  are  ready  for  baptism.  He 
receives  reports  from  the  deacons  about  the  sick, 
and  goes  to  pray  over  the  sufferers.  And  he  is  the 
chief  exorcist,  for  whom  the  ordaining  bishop  or 
elder  entreats  power  from  heaven  for  loosing  all 
bonds  of  demons'  wickedness.  The  presbyters  are 
his  fellow-workers.  They  may  not  indeed  sit  in 
the  bishop's  chair,  or  ordain  elders  and  deacons. 
But  like  him  they  may  lead  in  worship,  and  cele- 
brate the  Eucharist  in  his  absence.  In  the  cere- 
mony which  follows  a  bishop's  ordination  they 
lay  their  hands  with  his  upon  the  offerings.  In 
their  own  ordination  (whether  after  congregational 
election,  or  appointment  by  the  bishop,  or  co- 
optation  by  the  presbytery,  is  not  clear)  the  same 
prayer  is  recited  as  for  the  bishop  himself,  with  the 
single  substitution  of  the  word  "presbyterate"  for 
"episcopate."  For  both  the  whole  assembly 
prayed  that  the  Spirit  bestowed  on  the  holy 
Apostles  might  descend  on  them."  The  presby- 
ters also  visited  the  sick,  and  exorcised  evil 
spirits. 

To  the  deacons  fell  a  wide  range  of  duties.     Their 
attendance  was  required  at  the  daily  prayers  at 

'  Canon  iii,  §ii. 


2o8       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

cock-crow.  They  served  bishop  or  presbyter  at 
the  Eucharist,  which  they  might  carry  to  a  pres- 
byter in  sickness.  They  guarded  the  behaviour 
of  the  congregation.  They  noted  cases  for  their 
superiors  to  visit;  widows  and  orphans  looked  to 
them  for  help;  they  were  charged  to  discover  and 
relieve  hidden  poverty.  For  them  was  implored 
a  gift  of  teaching  that  they  might  bring  many  to 
salvation  in  Holy  Church.  They  must  instruct 
the  catechumens,  and  take  care  that  none  sought 
admission  to  the  Church  out  of  forbidden  occupa- 
tions without  first  fully  renouncing  them.  They 
must  see  that  all  heathen  usage  was  abandoned, 
and  that  the  candidates  for  baptism  had  duly 
grasped  the  principles  of  Christian  truth  and 
realized  the  obligations  of  the  Christian  life. 

By  such  officers,  chosen  for  sanctity  of  spirit  and 
blamelessness  of  conversation,  was  the  believer 
guided  upon  the  scala  ascensionis  as  he  climbed  to 
heaven.  It  was  a  grave  and  solemn  progress,  yet 
withal  full  of  joy  and  peace.  But  if  he  made  a 
false  step,  missed  his  footing,  and  fell, — was  his 
safety  all  undone?  The  Church  replied  by  en- 
treating for  bishop  and  presbyter  a  new  grace — 
spiritum  dementem  et  potestatem  ad  remittenda 
peccata^ — a  merciful  spirit  and  power  to  forgive 
sins.  How  was  this  power  exercised,  and  what 
were  its  results?  The  answer  to  that  question 
opens  a  new  chapter  in  the  evolution  of  the  Church 
as  the  sphere  of  salvation.^ 

'  Canon  iii,  §17.    '  '  Cp.  Lect.  VI. 


The  Church  as  Sphere  of  Salvation  209 
Note  A,  p.  139 

DID  JESUS  FOUND  AN  "ECCLESIA?" 

The  term  Ecclcsia  is  only  found  in  the  Gospels  in 
Matt,  xvi,  18,  and  xviii,  17.  What  is  its  meaning 
there,  and  are  these  original  utterances  of  Jesus?  In 
xvi,  18,  the  Evangelist  evidently  speaks  not  of  any 
particular  congregation,  but  of  the  Church  at  large, 
which  sprang  originally  from  the  community  of  dis- 
ciples at  Jerusalem.  The  significance  of  the  term  in 
xviii,  17,  is  more  doubtful.  Some  interpreters  sup- 
pose that  it  denotes  the  whole  body  of  the  disciples; 
Wcllhausen  suggests  the  church  at  Jerusalem ;  others, 
any  local  congregation.  W.  H.  Lowe  {Fragment  of 
Talmud  Babli,  1879,  p.  95,  note  Cc,  cited  by  Drum- 
mond,  Via,  Veritas,  Vita,  1894,  P-  i^)  identifies  it  with 
a  body  of  ten  persons  required  by  Rabbinic  law  for 
various  more  solemn  religious  acts,  and  known  as  the 
edhah  or  "congregation"  (cp.  ""^  in  Levy's  Neuhebr. 
und  Chald.  Worterb.). 

The  reasons  for  doubting  that  the  words  in  xvi, 
18,  were  actually  spoken  by  Jesus  are  various,  (i) 
His  preaching  was  mainly  concerned  with  the  speedy 
coming  of  "the  Kingdom";  and  his  outlook  on  the 
future  did  not  contemplate  the  foundation  of  a  perma- 
nent community.  (Paul,  however,  with  a  similar 
expectation  of  the  approaching  close  of  the  age,  does 
found  churches  from  place  to  place.)  (2)  The  Church 
is  elsewhere  represented  as  founded  on  Christ,  i  Cor. 
iii,  10,  II;  on  the  Twelve,  Rev.  xxi,  14;  on  Apostles 
and  Prophets,  Ephes.  ii,  20.  (3)  The  prerogative 
here  ascribed  to  Peter  is  promised  elsewhere  to  the 
disciples,  xviii,  18.  There  is  no  indication  of  its 
14 


2IO       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

special  exercise  by  Peter,  e.  g.  in  Acts,  or  in  the  scene 
at  Antioch  described  by  Paul  in  Gal.  ii,  11-14.  (4) 
The  passage  is  absent  from  Mark  (founded  upon 
Peter's  reminiscences)  and  Luke.  (5)  It  belongs  to  a 
group  of  peculiar  insertions  in  Matt.,  such  as  Matt. 
xiv,  28-31,  xvii,  24-27,  xviii,  21  ff.  (6)  Justin  {Dialog., 
c)  who  knows  xvi,  17,  does  not  quote  18.  Nor 
does  Irenasus,  who  also  knows  17,  but  omits  18-19; 
cp.  Adv.  Hares.,  Ill,  iii,  2;  cp.  Ill,  xviii,  4;  xiii,  2;  xxi, 
8;  Resch,  Aussercanonische  Texte  (1893),  pp.  185-196. 
The  first  reference  to  18-19  is  found  in  Tert.,  De 
PrcBscript.  Hceret.,  xxii  (about  199  A.  d.)  ;  cp.  Clem., 
Horn,  xvii,  19.  (7)  There  is  some  possibility  that  an 
early  form  of  the  Diatessaron  of  Tatian  made  known 
through  an  Armenian  version  of  a  Syriac  commentary 
on  Tatian's  work  did  not  contain  them.  (8)  On  the 
general  historic  conditions  when  the  words  are  first 
clearly  traceable,  cp.  Grill,  Der  Primat  des  Petrus 
(1904), ^p.  77.     Grill  dates  them  about  190  a.  d. 

Note  B,  p.  198 

TERTULLIAN  ON  HERESY  AND  THE  CHURCH 

The  treatise  of  Tertullian  entitled  De  PrcBScriptione 
Hcereticorum  is  usually  referred  to  the  year  199  a.  d. 
The  term  Prcescriptio  comes  from  the  language  of 
law,  and  indicates  the  "barring  of  a  claim, "  a  formal 
objection  taken  to  a  plea.  The  claim  which  Tertullian 
proposes  to  meet,  the  plea  which  he  will  set  aside,  is 
contained  in  the  Gospel  words  adopted  as  a  kind  of 
charter  by  the  heretics,  "Seek  and  ye  shall  find." 
After  a  denunciation  of  philosophy  as  the  parent  of 
heresies — "What   have  Athens  and  Jerusalem,  the 


The  Church  as  Sphere  of  Salvation  211 

Academy  and  the  Church,  to  do  with  one  another? " — 
he  urges  that  the  words  must  be  interpreted  by  the 
circumstances  of  their  utterance.  They  belonged  to 
the  beginning  of  the  Lord's  ministry,  when  all  were  yet 
doubtful  whether  he  were  the  Christ;  Peter  had  not 
yet  declared  him  to  be  the  Son  of  God,  and  John  the 
Baptist  had  ceased  to  feel  assurance  about  him. 
Moreover  the  words  were  addressed  to  Jews  who  had 
received  God's  promises  of  which  the  Gentiles  knew 
nothing.  The  Gentiles  were  to  be  taught  afterwards 
by  the  Apostles,  who  were  in  possession  of  the  Paraclete 
who  would  guide  them  into  all  the  truth.  Search  was, 
however,  justifiable  provided  it  was  made  in  the 
right  place;  the  old  woman  in  the  parable  did  not  go 
outside  her  own  house  to  look  for  the  lost  coin;  and 
the  man  who  wanted  bread  for  his  friend  did  not  go 
farther  than  his  neighbour's  door.  Enquiry,  there- 
fore, must  not  pass  beyond  the  Rule  of  Faith.  But 
the  heretics  claimed  the  support  of  the  Scriptures. 
Tertullian  will  not  argue  with  them  on  that  ground. 
Such  a  controversy  would  have  no  other  effect  than 
to  upset  either  the  stomach  or  the  brain!  Some  of 
the  sacred  books  the  heretics  rejected,  others  they 
mutilated,  others  they  interpreted  perversely.  The 
orthodox  disputant  would  lose  his  breath  and  gain 
nothing  but  vexation.  Everything  which  he  main- 
tained would  be  denied;  everything  which  he  denied 
would  be  maintained;  ergo  non  ad  Scriptiiras  provo- 
candum  est.  Where,  then,  should  the  truth  be  found? 
Christ  was  its  source,  the  Apostles  were  its  teachers, 
the  churches  which  they  founded  were  its  witnesses. 
The  testimonium  veritatis,  therefore,  lay  in  agreement 
with  their  teaching.     This  chain  consisted  of  three 


212       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

links.  Christ  was  admittedly  incapable  of  error. 
What  of  the  Apostles  ?  Did  not  Paul's  rebuke  to  Peter 
at  Antioch  show  that  even  Apostles  might  go  astray? 
[This  was  the  case  on  which  Porphyry  afterwards 
laid  such  stress.]  The  fault  was  one  of  conduct,  urges 
Tertullian,  not  of  teaching,  and  Peter  was  on  the  same 
level  with  Paul  in  martyrdom.  In  the  apostolic 
preaching  there  was  neither  error  nor  reserve.  Had 
the  faith,  then,  been  corrupted  in  the  third  stage? 
Look  at  the  number  of  the  churches,  it  was  pleaded 
for  the  defence.  Their  wide  separation  rendered  it 
impossible  to  suppose  that  their  united  agreement 
resulted  from  chance.  Let  the  heretics  unfold  the 
roll  of  their  bishops,  and  show  that  the  first  of  them 
had  received  apostolic  ordination.  This  was  the  way 
in  which  churches  like  Smyrna  and  Rome  could  prove 
their  apostolic  origin.  This  general  argument  was  a 
kind  of  preface  to  subsequent  treatises  directed  against 
special  heresies. 


LECTURE  IV 

THE  SACRAMENTS  AS  THE  MEANS  OF 
SALVATION 

WISDOM,"  says  a  Jewish  teacher  in  the 
name  of  Solomon,  "is  initiated  into  the 
knowledge  of  God";  the  mysteries  of  her  origin 
and  nature  are  revealed  only  to  those  who  through 
prayer  receive  her  spirit  and  prepare  for  them- 
selves friendship  with  God.'  Philo  declared  that 
he  had  been  initiated  by  Moses  into  the  great 
mysteries;  Jeremiah,  too,  had  been  his  hierophant; 
he  is  himself  ready  to  act  the  same  part  to  those 
who  have  been  purified,  and  will  guard  the  secrets 
as  a  sacred  treasure  in  their  inmost  souls.  ^  For 
the  first  Christians  the  kingdom  of  God  was  a 
mystery^;  so  were  the  great  events  of  the  near 
future,  the  working  of  Lawlessness  and  the  im- 
pending revelation  of  the  Lawless  One,''  whose 
power  would  be  brought  to  nought  by  the  Advent 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  the  marvel  of  the  instan- 
taneous change  of  the  living  and  the  resurrection 

'  Wisdom  of  Sol.  viii,  4,  vi,  22,  vii,  7,  14. 
'  De  Cfierubim,  xii-xiv. 

3  Mark  iv,  11;  the  explanation  by  a  later  day  of  the  rejection 
of  the  Gospel  by  Jesus'  own  people. 
*2  Thess.  ii,  7-8. 

213 


214       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

of  the  dead^;  the  wonder  of  God's  purpose  of  sal- 
vation for  the  Gentile  as  well  as  the  Jew.^  Paul, 
too,  had  been  "initiated"  into  the  mystery  of 
life,  contentment  alike  with  plenty  and  with  want^; 
and  his  apostolic  commission  lays  on  him  a  high 
responsibility  as  "steward  of  the  mysteries  of 
God."''  The  seer  of  the  Apocalypse  learns  that 
when  the  seventh  Angel  sounds,  and  the  kingdoms 
of  the  world  pass  to  their  rightful  Lord,  the  mys- 
tery of  God  will  be  completed.  ^  Ignatius  knows 
of  three  "mysteries  of  a  cry  wrought  in  the  stillness 
of  God":  the  virginity  of  Mary,  the  birth  of  the 
holy  Child,  and  the  death  of  the  Lord.  ^  But  there 
is  a  hint  of  new  meanings  in  another  phrase. 
When  the  deacons  are  said  to  be  the  ministers 
(Btaxovot)  not  of  food  and  drink  but  of  the  mys- 
teries of  Jesus  Christ,  7  the  phrase  suggests  some- 
thing more  than  solemnities  and  secrets  of  truth, 
conceived  primasvally  in  the  divine  Mind  and  at 
length  displayed  in  actual  events,  or  the  marvels 
of  Nature  whose  Order  is  guarded  by  the  Elemen- 
tal spirits.^  Justin  can  still  speak  of  the  mystery 
of  Christ  and  of  the  Cross  ^;  but  he  can  also  plead 
for  "our  mysteries,"  against  those  of  Dionysus, 

'  I  Cor.  XV,  51. 

^  Col.  i,  26,  ii,  2,  iv,  3;  Epli.  iii,  4,  9,  vi,  19;  Romans  xvi,  25. 

3  Philip,  iv,  12,  li^ixxi-rifxai  ("I  have  learned  the  secret,"  R.  V.), 
the  technical  word  of  initiation. 

4  I  Cor.  iv,  I.  s  Rcu.  x,  7:  xi,  15. 

*  Ephes.  xix.  7  Trail,  ii,  3. 

*  Ad  Dioguct.  vii,  2,  the  (roLTxeta  of  Gal.  iv,  9. 

9  I  Apol.  xiii,  4,  Dial.  Ixxiv,  3,  cvi,  i,  cxxxi,  2,  cxxxiv,  5. 


Sacraments  as  Means  of  Salvation  215 

Adonis,  Saturn,  the  Mother  of  the  Gods,  and 
Mithras.'  What  is  the  meaning  of  this  designa- 
tion of  the  Christian  rites? 

For  many  centuries  Greece  had  been  the  home 
of  certain  cults  distinguished  aHke  from  the  domes- 
tic worship  of  the  private  citizen  and  the  pubHc 
ceremonies  of  the  State.  They  were  reserved  for 
those  who  had  been  specially  admitted  after  due 
preparation.  The  person  of  the  candidate  must 
be  purified ;  he  must  be  pledged  to  secrecy  concern- 
ing the  holy  sights  and  sacred  words;  disclosure 
might  involve  the  penalty  of  death.  Such  rituals 
of  a  ruder  kind  are  now  known  to  be  wide-spread 
among  the  peoples  of  the  lower  culture,  and  cer- 
tain elements  in  Greek  practice  which  had  acquired 
the  sanctity  of  ancient  custom  may  have  been 
derived  from  an  earlier  and  cruder  stage  of  thought 
and  life.  Two  great  religious  ideas  emerge  out 
of  the  obscurity  in  which  these  mysteries  still 
remain  in  spite  of  all  the  labours  of  recent  students 
for  their  elucidation.  They  were  believed  to  open 
a  way  to  direct  communion  with  the  Deity,  and 
— perhaps  as  a  natural  consequence — to  secure  for 
the  believer  the  promise  of  a  happy  immortality. 

Most  famous  of  all  were  the  mysteries  of  Eleusis. 
The  town  stood  on  a  low  rocky  height  guarding  a 
bay  upon  the  coast  of  Attica,  opposite  the  island 
of  Salamis.  Across  the  hills  and  the  fertile  plain 
which  separated  it  from  Athens  ran  the  Sacred 

'  I  Apol.  xxix,  2;  Dial.  Ixix,  2;  i  Apol.  xxv,  i,  xxvii,  4;  2  Apol. 
xii,  5;  Dial.  Ixx,  i,  Ixxviii,  6;  I  Apol.  Ixvi,  4. 


2i6       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

Way,  twelve  miles  in  length,  adorned  in  the  course 
of  many  generations  with  temples  and  monuments. 
Along  this  road  as  early  as  the  seventh  century 
(perhaps  earlier  still)  passed  the  processions  year 
by  year  in  the  month  of  September,  to  and  fro, 
bearing  the  "holy  things,"  or  escorting  the  "fair 
young  god"  lacchos.  There  were  lustrations  as 
the  candidates  for  initiation  {mystcB)  bathed  in 
the  sea;  and  they  were  required  to  be  sexually 
pure,  and  to  have  abstained  from  certain  forbidden 
foods.  There  was  something  in  the  nature  of  a 
religious  drama  or  passion-play,  in  which  Demeter 
and  the  Maid  (Kore,  her  daughter)  and  Aidoneus, 
lord  of  the  under-world,  took  part.  There  was  a 
display  of  consecrated  objects,  and  the  my s tee 
partook  of  some  sacred  food.  There  was  a  dis- 
course by  the  presiding  officer  or  hierophant.  It 
probably  explained  the  meaning  of  what  was  of- 
fered to  the  wondering  gaze  of  the  beholders.  The 
fame  of  the  Mysteries,  the  solemnity  of  the  pre- 
vious preparations,  the  concentration  of  thought 
and  expectation  on  great  themes,  the  contagion  of 
numbers,  the  sympathy  of  a  vast  crowd  from  dis- 
tant lands,  all  intensified  the  impression.  The  re- 
sult was,  as  Aristotle  phrased  it,  that  they  felt 
certain  emotions,  and  were  put  into  a  certain 
frame  of  mind.  ^  Writing  in  the  time  of  Julian 
in  the  fourth  century  a.d.,  Themistius  compared 
the  experiences  of  the  initiated  with  those  of  the 
soul  at  the  point  of  death;  there  were  glooms  and 

'  Quoted  by  Farnell,  Cults  of  the  Greek  States,  Vol.  iii,  p.  192. 


Sacraments  as  Means  of  Salvation  217 

terrors,  and  then  a  wondrous  light;  the  initiate 
was  received  into  pure  regions  with  holy  dance  and 
song;  he  joined  in  the  divine  communion  and  com- 
panied  with  the  blessed,  while  those  outside  were 
huddled  together  in  filth  and  fog.  From  the 
days  of  the  Homeric  Hymn  to  Demeter  which 
practically  threw  the  mysteries  open  to  all  Greece, 
it  had  been  believed  that  they  secured  for  the 
initiated  a  better  lot  in  the  world  beyond  the 
grave. '  Women,  and  even  slaves,  were  admitted, 
and  finally  all  limits  of  nationality  were  tran- 
scended, and  the  entry  was  made  as  wide  as  Ro- 
man citizenship.  The  homicide  was  rejected,  and 
Nero  suffered  the  ignominy  of  exclusion.  The 
professor  of  unhallowed  rites  might  not  enter,  and 
the  door  was  closed  against  Apollonius  of  Tyana 
as  a  wandering  magician.  Otherwise  there  seem 
to  have  been  no  definite  moral  demands  upon  the 
candidates.  They  were  not  redeemed  from  any 
sinful  ways.  No  pattern  of  conduct  was  held  up 
before  them ;  nor  was  the  nature  of  the  future  life 
made  clear.  But  they  were  inspired  with  faith 
in  a  happy  immortality;  and  the  sense  of  be- 
longing to  a  vast  community  who  had  marched 
together  along  the  Sacred  Way,  added  to  the  con- 
viction of  a  consecrated  destiny,  may  well  have 
given  to  many  devout  spirits  an  elevation  of  sen- 

'  "Happy  is  he  among  deathly  men  who  hath  beheld  these 
things!  and  he  that  is  uninitiate,  and  hath  no  lot  in  them,  hath 
never  equal  lot  in  death  beneath  the  murky  gloom":  transl. 
Andrew  Lang. 


21 8       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

timent  which  dignified  and  strengthened  their 
whole  character.  A  decree  of  the  Amphictyonic 
Council  in  the  second  century  B.C.  declared  it  to  be 
"the  tradition  of  the  mysteries  that  the  greatest  of 
human  blessings  is  fellowship  and  mutual  trust."' 
The  epitaph  on  a  certain  hierophant,  who  passed 
on  to  the  immortals  in  the  tenth  year  of  his  office, 
affirmed  that  he  found  death  not  an  evil  but  a 
blessing.  The  Eleusinian  faith  spread  far  and 
wide,  and  doubtless  prompted  many  a  prayer  like 
that  inscribed  on  Alexandrian  grave-reliefs  that 
the  departed  "might  reach  the  region  of  the  holy 
ones.    ^ 

The  hope  of  immortality  in  Greece,  said  Hero- 
dotus, was  derived  from  Egypt.  ^  Apart  from  the 
accuracy  of  this  statement  as  to  the  origin  of  Hel- 
lenic belief,  the  place  which  the  doctrine  occupied 
in  the  rehgious  interest  of  the  Egyptians  is  well 
known.  The  figure  of  the  "Good  Being,"  Osiris, 
served  as  the  age-long  centre  of  the  visions  of  the 
future.  His  life  of  beneficence  had  ended  through 
the  cruel  stratagem  of  his  brother  Seth-Typhon, 
and  legend  told  of  the  wanderings  of  his  sister- 
wife  Isis,  of  her  recovery  of  the  corpse,  of  its  brutal 
dismemberment  subsequently  by  the  murderer, 
and  of  the  quest  of  the  scattered  limbs  by  the 
devoted  Isis,  who  with  the  aid  of  her  son  Horus 
succeeded  in  putting  them  together  and  effecting 
the  resurrection  of  her  dead  spouse;  or,  as  Plutarch 

»  Famell,  ibid.,  pp.  191,  347. 

» Ibid.,  pp.  213,  350.  3  Herodot.  ii,  123. 


Sacraments  as  Means  of  Salvation  219 

has  it,  "Isis  invented  the  remedy  which  confers 
immortaUty."'  All  this  was  wrought  into  a 
sacred  drama  of  Osiris  and  his  sufferings,  which 
Herodotus  witnessed  at  its  annual  performance  at 
Sais.^  Similar  representations  took  place  at  the 
same  time  in  fifteen  other  cities.  Herodotus  states 
that  they  were  called  the  "Mysteries."  The 
term,  however,  is  not  employed  in  the  technical 
Greek  sense.  There  were  no  initiations,  no  vows 
imposed  on  the  spectators,  nor  any  special  bless- 
ings secured  for  them  after  death.  But  the  cere- 
monies repeated  in  the  story  of  the  god,  on  the 
most  impressive  scale,  what  was  supposed  to  hap- 
pen to  the  ordinary  man.  From  very  ancient 
times  the  deceased  Egyptian  was  identified  with 
the  Ruler  of  the  land  of  the  departed;  he,  too, 
was  symbolically  dismembered,  and  through  mysti- 
cal assimilation  with  the  resurrection  of  Osiris  by 
magic  formulae  was  reconstructed  and  prepared 
for  the  new  life.  ^  Like  other  deities  who  perished 
and  rose  again,  such  as  Dionysos  or  Attis,  Osiris 
had  not  died  voluntarily,  and  the  ancient  myth 
could  not  present  him  as  a  Saviour-god.  ^  Yet  he 
became  the  type  of  blessed  immortality.     In  the 

'  Quoted  by  Moret,  Kitigs  and  Gods  oj  Egypt  (1912),  p.  78. 

*  Herodot.  ii,  171,  t4  StlK-qXa  tQv  wadiuv  olvtov. 

'  For  a  late  representation  of  this  process,  founded  no  doubt  on 
earlier  texts,  sec  Lcgrain,  Livre  dcs  Transforviations  (1890), 
from  a  demotic  papyrus  B.C.  57-56,  where  the  process  by  which 
the  dead  man  becomes  Osiris  is  described  in  detail. 

<  Cp.  Loisy,  Revue  d'Histoire  et  de  Litterature  Religieuses,  iv, 
1913,  p.  402. 


220      Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

great  hall  of  the  twofold  Justice  he  sat  as  judge; 
and  century  after  century,  millennium  after  millen- 
nium, the  generations  of  men  prepared  themselves 
for  death,  confiding  in  the  hope  that  when  their 
deeds  were  weighed  in  the  balance  they  would  be 
pronounced  pure,  and  would  pass  into  the  fellow- 
ship and  felicity  of  the  gods.^  Still,  in  the  days 
of  imperial  Rome  did  he  vouchsafe  to  bestow  the 
cooling  water  of  life,^  which  gave  rise  to  the  wor- 
shipper's prayer  "Deus  te  refrigeret,'"  and  may  not 
have  been  without  its  influence  upon  the  later 
religious  language  of  the  Church,  where  the  term 
refrigerium  came  to  include  the  heavenly  and 
eternal  meal  of  which  the  saints  partook  with 
Christ  and  his  angels.  ^ 

In  the  early  centuries  of  our  era,  however,  Isis 
had  acquired  a  far  more  prominent  place  outside 
Egypt.  Under  the  Ptolemies  her  worship  had 
been  carried  from  city  to  city  along  the  Mediter- 
ranean; and  after  the  fashion  of  the  day  she  had 
been  identified  with  one  after  another  of  the  great 
deities,  and  exalted  into  the  supreme  sovereignty 

'  See  the  full  treatment  of  this  great  scene  in  Budge,  Osiris 
and  the  Egyptian  Resurrection,  Vol.  i  (191 1),  chap.  x. 

^Kaibel,  Inscrr.  Grcec,  1488,  cp.  1705,  1782,  t6  fvxp^v  iJSwp. 
Cp.  1842  (addressed  to  Aidoneus),  and  the  pathetic  touch  in 
1890,  ^vxv  8L\l/iI)(Tri  \j/vxp^v  vdwp  fj^raSds. 

3  Cp.  Kraus,  Realencyclopddie  der  Christlichen  Alterthiimer 
(1882),  Bd.  ii,  685.  The  verb  was  already  used  with  reference 
to  the  dead  in  the  Passio  S.  PerpetucB,  8 ;  and  earlier  still  (as  Dr. 
Darwell  Stone  kindly  points  out)  the  noun  occurs  in  a  similar 
connection,  e.g.,  Wisd.  of  Sol.  iv,  7,  "Justus  autem  si  raorte 
praeoccupatus  fuerit,  in  refrigerio  erit." 


Sacraments  as  Means  of  Salvation  221 

of  the  universe.  Merchants  and  sailors,  literary- 
men,  slaves,  united  to  support  the  rites  which  her 
priests  planted  in  port  after  port;  and  in  spite  of 
repeated  efforts  to  suppress  them  at  Rome  they 
won  a  permanent  place  in  aristocratic  favour 
through  the  erection  of  a  great  temple  in  her 
honour  by  Caligula  on  the  Campus  Martins  prob- 
ably in  the  year  38  A.D.'  Her  votaries  claimed 
for  her  creative  power  over  the  world,  and  the 
institution  of  the  duties  and  affections  of  human 
life,  in  language  that  repeatedly  finds  its  parallels 
in  the  religious  phraseology  of  the  Greek  Scriptures 
of  the  Old  Testament.  Here  are  a  few  phrases 
from  an  inscription  discovered  in  the  island  of  los^* : 
"I  am  Isis,  the  mistress  of  every  land,  I  gave  and 
ordained  laws  unto  men,  which  no  one  is  able  to 
change.  I  divided  the  earth  from  the  heaven,  I 
showed  the  paths  of  the  stars,  I  ordered  the  course 
of  the  sun  and  moon.  I  made  strong  the  right. 
I  brought  together  woman  and  man.  I  showed 
mysteries  to  men ;  I  taught  them  to  honour  images 
of  the  gods.  I  broke  down  the  governments  of 
tyrants.  I  ordained  that  the  true  should  be 
thought  good."  When  the  goddess  revealed  her- 
self, it  is  not  surprising  that  she  should  declare 
herself  the  object  of  universal  adoration:  "The 
whole  earth  worships  my  godhead,  one  and  indi- 
vidual, under  many  a  changing  shape,  with  varied 

'  Cumont,  The  Oriental  Religions  in  Roman  Paganism  (191 1), 
p.  84. 

'Deissmann,  Light  from  the  Ancient  East  (1910),  p.  196. 


222       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

rites  and  by  many  diverse  names."'  She  pre- 
sented herself  to  her  votaries  in  dreams,  announc- 
ing that  she  was  "strong  to  aid";  and  to  Lucius, 
the  bewitched  hero  of  the  "Golden  Ass,"  she 
promises  her  aid  to  change  him  back  into  human- 
ity on  condition  that  the  rest  of  his  life  should  be 
dedicated  to  her.  He  shall  pass  his  years  beneath 
her  protection,  and  in  the  world  below  he  should 
see  her  shining  through  the  darkness  of  Acheron, 
and  dwell  in  the  Elysian  fields,  engaged  in  continual 
worship  and  blest  in  the  sunHght  of  her  smile.  =• 
Such  was  salvation  through  Isis.  How  was  it  to 
be  gained?  The  description  of  the  Isis  mysteries 
with  which  Apuleius  concludes  his  novel  (in  the 
middle  of  the  second  century  A.D.),  is  the  most 
complete  account  of  such  rites  which  has  survived 
the  losses  of  the  past. 

When  the  hour  of  dehverance  arrives,  the  trans- 
formation is  effected  while  a  great  religious  pro- 
cession in  honour  of  the  Saviour  Goddess  passes 
by.  The  priest,  who  has  been  divinely  warned 
at  the  same  time  that  the  goddess  appeared  to 
Lucius,  bids  him  enrol  himself  in  the  sacred  sol- 
diery ^r  "Dedicate  thyself  to  the  ministry  of  our 
faith,  and  take  upon  thee  the  voluntary  yoke  of 

'  Apuleius,  Metamorphoses,  XI,  v  (transl .  Butler) .  Then  follows 
a  long  series  of  identifications  with  the  Mother  of  the  Gods, 
Minerva,  Venus,  Diana,  Juno,  Bellona,  Hecate,  and  others. 

*  Ibid.,  VI. 

3  "Da  nomen  huic  sanctae  militias";  in  the  Latin  text  after- 
wards occur  the  terms  sacramentum  and  jugum,  minis terium  and 
libertas,  all  familiar  words  in  the  Christian  sphere. 


Sacraments  as  Means  of  Salvation  223 

service.  For  when  thou  hast  begun  to  be  the 
servant  of  the  goddess,  then  shalt  thou  perceive 
more  fully  the  greatness  of  thy  liberty."'  Such 
was  the  call  of  religion,  and  Lucius  hastened  to 
obey.  More  than  any  other  of  the  deities  who 
were  elevated  into  the  sovereignty  of  the  world, 
Isis  evoked  personal  devotion,  a  glowing  piety. 
Lucius  followed  the  practice  of  those  who  vowed 
themselves  to  her  worship,  and  took  rooms  in  the 
temple — it  was  at  Cenchreae,  the  port  of  Corinth — ■ 
to  prepare  for  his  initiation.  There  he  lived 
among  those  who  sought  the  service  of  the  god- 
dess, and  spent  months,  or  years,  or  even  their 
whole  lives  awaiting  her  summons.^  The  time 
passed  in  intercourse  with  the  priests  and  the  rites 
of  worship.  Night  after  night  the  queenly  form  of 
the  deity  appeared  to  him  and  bade  him  make 
ready.  But  he  was  held  back  by  a  dread  of  the 
severity  of  her  discipline ;  the  laws  of  chastity  and 
abstinence  were  not  easy  to  obey;  and  he  kept 
putting  off  the  completion  of  his  vows.  There 
were  fasts  and  festivals;  sometimes  liturgical 
prayers  were  recited  from  a  book,  for  the  pros- 
perity of  the  Emperor,  the  Senate,  and  the  whole 
Roman  people.  At  length  the  time  of  fulfilment 
arrived.  He  had  been  forewarned  of  its  solemnity. 
The  gates  of  hell,  he  was  told,  and  the  power  of 
life  were  in  the  hands  of  the  goddess,  and  the  act 
of  self-dedication  was  a  kind  of  voluntary  death, 

*  Apulcius,  Metam.,xv. 

*  Reitzenstein,  Die  Hellenistischen  Mysterien-Religionen,  p.  80. 


224       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

followed  by  new  birth  and  the  beginning  of  a  new 
race  of  life.  After  the  morning  sacrifice  certain 
books  written  in  strange  hieroglyphic  characters 
were  brought  forth  from  the  great  shrine,  and  he 
was  informed  of  the  provisions  he  must  make  for 
the  ceremony.  Then  he  was  led  to  the  lavacrum 
or  font,  and  after  the  priest's  prayer  for  the  favour 
of  the  gods  he  was  sprinkled  with  the  purest  water. 
Thus  cleansed,  he  was  taken  back  to  the  feet  of 
the  goddess  herself  in  the  temple ;  holy  secrets  were 
imparted  to  him ;  and  he  was  publicly  instructed 
to  abstain  from  the  pleasures  of  the  table  for  ten 
days,  to  eat  nothing  that  had  life,  and  drink  no 
wine.  After  due  compliance  when  the  tenth  day 
was  complete,  he  received  gifts  from  the  holy 
initiates,  and  then  towards  sunset  was  led,  clothed 
in  a  new  linen  robe,  into  the  very  heart  of  the 
holy  place.  He  seemed  to  himself  to  approach 
the  unseen  world  and  return.  "I  drew  nigh  to 
the  confines  of  death,  I  trod  the  threshold  of 
Proserpine,  I  was  borne  through  all  the  elements 
and  returned  to  earth  again.  I  saw  the  sim  gleam- 
ing with  bright  splendour  at  dead  of  night,  I  ap- 
proached the  gods  above,  and  the  gods  below,  and 
worshipped  them  face  to  face.  Behold  I  have 
told  thee  things  of  which,  though  thou  hast  heard 
them,  thou  must  yet  know  naught."^  When  the 
rites  were  accomplished  the  next  morning,  he 
was  adorned  like  the  sun  and  set  up  like  to  the 

'  Apuleius,  Metatn.,  xxiii.     For  a  conjectural  explanation   of 
this  experience  cp.  Moret,  Kings  and  Gods  of  Egypt,  p.  i8i  ff. 


Sacraments  as  Means  of  Salvation  225 

image  of  a  god  upon  a  platform  veiled  by  curtains ; 
they  were  suddenly  drawn  aside,  and  the  wonder- 
ing crowd  thronged  in  to  gaze  upon  him.  He  was 
mystically  identified  with  the  Sun-god  whom  he 
had  beheld  in  midnight  vision,  the  mysterious 
Deity  for  ever  dying  and  for  ever  reborn,  the 
source  of  the  energies  of  the  universe ;  he  is  endowed 
with  immortality. 

Lofty  ideas  might  gather  round  these  rites. 
Truth,  says  Plutarch  to  the  Lady  Clea,  priestess 
of  Isis,'  is  the  greatest  good  for  man  to  receive, 
and  the  most  venerable  gift  for  God  to  bestow; 
for  the  blessedness  of  Deity  consists  in  knowledge 
and  understanding.  The  happiness  of  the  eternal 
life  which  is  the  lot  of  God  lies  in  this,  that  nothing 
that  happens  escapes  his  cognizance.  Were  the 
knowledge  and  understanding  of  real  being  with- 
drawn, immortality  would  not  be  life  but  mere 
duration.  To  desire  truth,  especially  about  the 
gods,  is  to  reach  out  after  Deity,  a  more  holy  work 
than  all  ritual  sanctification  and  temple-service. 
The  very  name  of  Isis  (as  Plutarch  interpreted  it) 
implied  her  pre-eminent  possession  of  wisdom  and 
insight,  and  the  title  of  her  temple  promised 
knowledge  and  the  vision  of  Reality.  Iseion 
meant  "approach  to  the  knowledge  of  Being," ^ 
if  with  reason  and  purity  we  enter  the  sanctuary 
of  the  Goddess.  To  those  who  dwell  with  her, 
and  endure  her  austere  service,  she  vouchsafes 
the  knowledge  {gnosis)  of  the  God  who  is  First 

'  De  Iside,  §  I.  "  eM/xevov  rb  6v^  §  2. 

15 


226       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

and  Sovereign  and  perceived  only  by  the  mind. 
Such  is  the  holy  teaching  which  she  delivers 
to  those  who  are  initiated  for  the  attainment  of 
divinity/  The  Isiac  salvation,  philosophically 
interpreted,  meant  participation  in  the  divine 
nature. 

One  other  notable  religion  comes  into  the  view 
of  Christian  writers  in  the  middle  of  the  second 
century  and  in  a  himdred  years  of  struggle  threat- 
ens the  very  existence  of  Christianity  itself.  Justin 
at  Rome  denounces  the  initiatory  rites  of  Mithra  as 
a  demonic  parody  of  the  true  worship.^  Founded 
on  homage  to  one  of  the  ancient  Aryan  gods  of 
light,  the  heavenly  "Friend,"  august  companion 
of  the  all-seeing  Varuna,  chief  deity  of  the  sky,^ 
the  rites  of  Mithra  had  certainly  reached  Rome 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  first  century  of  our  era, 
if  they  had  not,  as  Plutarch  tells,  been  introduced 
before  the  end  of  the  Republic,  through  the  captive 
Cilician  pirates  subdued  by  Pompey.  The  religion 
of  Persia  out  of  which  they  came  had  already 
helped  to  give  to  Judaism  doctrines  of  resurrection 
and  judgment  which  were  planted  deep  in  Christ- 
ianity. It  was  not  surprising  therefore,  that  both 
teaching  and  practice  should  show  many  common 
features  in  the  two  faiths.  The  brilliant  scholar 
whose  researches  have  thrown  such  a  flood  of 

» rbv  lepbp  \6yov  Sv  i]  debs   .   .   .  trapadlducri  rots  reKovnivon  deniffeus. 
^  I  Apol.  Ixvi,  4. 

3  Tlie  equation  Varuna  =  Greek  Ouranos  is  still  maintained  by 
competent  scholars. 


Sacraments  as  Means  of  Salvation  227 

light  on  the  Mithraic  monuments,  Prof.  Franz 
Cumont,  has  thus  summed  up  their  parallel 
elements^: 

The  adepts  of  both  formed  secret  conventicles, 
closely  united,  the  members  of  which  gave  themselves 
the  name  of  "Brothers."  The  rites  which  they 
practised  offered  numerous  analogies.  The  sectaries 
of  the  Persian  God,  like  the  Christians,  purified 
themselves  by  baptism;  received  by  a  species  of  con- 
firmation the  power  necessary  to  combat  the  spirits 
of  evil;  and  expected  from  a  Lord's  Supper  salvation 
of  body  and  soul.  Like  the  latter,  they  also  held 
Sunday  sacred,  and  celebrated  the  birth  of  the  Sun  on 
December  25th,  the  same  day  on  which  Christmas  has 
been  celebrated  since  the  fourth  century  at  least. 
They  both  preached  a  categorical  system  of  ethics, 
regarded  asceticism  as  meritorious,  and  counted  among 
their  principal  virtues  abstinence  and  continence, 
renunciation  and  self-control.  Their  conceptions  of 
the  world  and  of  the  destiny  of  man  were  similar. 
They  both  admitted  the  existence  of  a  Heaven  in- 
habited by  beatified  ones,  situate  in  the  upper  regions, 
and  of  a  Hell  peopled  by  demons,  situate  in  the  bowels 
of  the  earth.  They  both  placed  a  Flood  at  the 
beginning  of  history;  they  both  assigned  as  the 
source  of  their  traditions  a  primitive  revelation;  they 
both,  finally,  believed  in  the  immortality  of  the  soul, 
in  a  last  judgment,  and  in  a  resurrection  of  the 
dead  consequent  upon  a  final  conflagration  of  the 
universe. 

'  Textes  et  Monuments  de  Mithra,  i,  p.  339:  transl.  McCormack, 
The  Mysteries  of  Mithra  (Chicago,  1903),  p.  190. 


228       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

Such  were  some  of  the  ritual  forms  created  by 
different  types  of  rehgious  hfe.  They  sought  in 
various  ways  to  bring  the  behever  into  fellowship 
with  the  Powers  that  ruled  the  world,  and  secure 
his  welfare  in  the  realm  beyond  the  grave.  It  was 
a  widespread  need ;  so  general  was  the  longing  for 
help  and  assurance  in  the  better  minds  that  Athe- 
nagoras  could  affirm  as  a  universal  fact  that  mys- 
teries were  celebrated  among  every  nation  and, 
people.'  The  first  requirement  always  was  for 
purity  of  person  as  an  outward  symbol  of  pur- 
ity of  heart,  and  the  entry  into  a  consecrated 
community  lay  through  the  cleansing  bath.  It 
was  with  correct  feeling  that  Clement  of  Alexan- 
dria recognized  an  affinity  between  the  Greek 
rites  of  purification  and  Christian  baptism: 
"Not  without  reason  is  it  that  in  the  mys- 
teries in  vogue  among  the  Greeks  lustrations 
hold  the  first  place,  as  also  the  laver  among  the 
barbarians."^ 

All  over  the  world  ceremonies  of  initiation  are 
to  be  found,  guarding  admission  into  different 
types  of  community.  In  the  lower  culture  they 
introduce  youth  into  the  duties  and  privileges  of 
manhood,  and  the  traditions,  laws,  and  customs 
of  the  tribe.  Many  of  these  are  modelled  on  a 
common  idea,  a  symbolic  death  and  resurrection.  ^ 

I  Legatio,  i.  '  Strom.  V,  xi. 

3  Cp.  Webster,  Primitive  Secret  Societies  (1908),  p.  38;  Frazer, 
The  Golden  Bough,  xi  {Balder  the  Beautiful,  ii,  1913).  P-  225, 
"The   Ritual  of  the  Resurrection."     For  a  very  elaborate  ex- 


Sacraments  as  Means  of  Salvation  229 

They  may  be  traced  all  round  the  world  from 
Austraha  and  New  Guinea  to  Fiji,  among  the 
Indians  of  America  and  the  negroes  of  West  Africa. 
In  the  higher  religious  communities  the  more 
common  figure  is  that  of  rebirth.  The  three  up- 
per castes  of  ancient  India  belonged  to  the  * '  Twice- 
born."  The  youthful  Brahman,  somewhere 
between  the  ages  of  eight  and  sixteen,  was  led  to 
his  preceptor  to  be  invested  with  the  sacred  thread. 
Blessings  were  uttered  over  it,  and  holy  water 
was  sprinkled  on  it';  modern  ceremonial  is  more 
complicated  and  includes  at  least  two  baths. 
Sprinkling  with  water  took  away  evil  thoughts, 
bad  dreams,  misfortune,  and  distress.  ^  To  bathe 
in  a  river  and  worship  king  Dharma  on  the  four- 
teenth of  each  half  of  the  month  was  the  appointed 
way  of  purification  from  every  sin.^  The  daily 
bath  in  the  prescribed  form  even  secured  exemp- 
tion from  the  tortures  of  Yama's  hell.^  The 
disciple  of  the  Good  Religion  (of  Zoroaster)  must 
celebrate  the  ritual  and  become  navamd,  "newly 
bom,"  bom  again,  regenerate.^  In  the  Roman 
Empire  a  new  rite  was  brought  to  Italy  from 
Phrygia  and  introduced  into  the  cult  of  the  Great 

ample  (though  in  a  different  connection)  see  the  account  of  the 
Sed  Festival  in  Egypt,  ibid.,  vi  {Adonis,  ii,  191 4),  p.  I53.  for  the 
renewal  of  the  King's  life,  through  mj'stical  identification  with 
the  death  of  Osiris,  followed  by  his  rebirth. 

'  Monier  Williams,  Religious  Thought  in  India  (1883),  p.  361. 

» Institutes  of  Vishnu  (Sacred  Books  of  the  East,  VH,)  Ixiv,  41. 

3  Ibid.,  xc,  28.  ••  Ibid.,  kiv,  42. 

s  Sacred  Books  of  the  East,  XXIV,  p.  262. 


230       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

Mother,  known  as  the  Taurobolium.  The  first 
record  of  its  performance  in  the  West  belongs  to 
the  year  134  a.d.,  but  in  its  Asian  home  it  was 
doubtless  much  older,  and  represented  some  cruder 
savage  practice.  A  pit  was  dug  and  planks  were 
laid  across  it.  On  this  rough  platform  a  bull  was 
slaughtered.  In  the  pit  beneath  stood  the  wor- 
shipper, crowned  with  gold,  who  sought  the  New 
Birth.  The  blood  flowed  over  the  planks  and 
dripped  upon  him  through  the  chinks  between 
them;  it  was  charged  with  quickening  energy. 
His  head  and  face,  his  clothes,  his  body,  were  all 
drenched.  He  emerged  renatus  in  eternum,  reborn 
for  ever,  purified  from  sin.  He  had  died  to  his 
old  life,  he  had  become  the  equal  of  the  god,  he 
was  made  divine.  ^ 

Similar  ideas,  couched  in  various  forms,  meet 
us  in  contemporary  cults.  In  one  of  the  Hermetic 
tracts,  entitled  The  Bowl  or  the  Monad,  Hermes  tells 
his  son  Tat  that  the  whole  world  was  made  by 
the  Creator  with  Reason  {Logos)  not  with  hands; 
he  must  be  conceived,  therefore,  as  everywhere 
present  and  always  existing,  though  his  body  is 
not  extended,  and  cannot  be  touched  or  seen  or 
measured.  Men,  too,  were  sharers  in  reason,  but 
a  yet  higher  power  was  set  before  them  as  a  prize, 
viz.  participation  in  the  supreme  Mind  {Nous). 

'  Among  recent  descriptions  cp.  Cumont,  Oriental  Religions, 
p.  66;  Frazer,  Golden  Bough,  v,  (Adonis,  i),  p.  274.  Tertullian 
says  De  BapL  v,  that  those  who  were  bathed  in  the  ludi  Apolli- 
nares  and  the  Eleusinian  mysteries  believed  themselves  regene- 
rated and  relieved  of  punishment  for  their  perjuries. 


Sacraments  as  Means  of  Salvation  231 

God  filled  a  mighty  bowl  with  it,  and  sent  it  down 
to  earth  with  a  herald  whom  he  commanded  to 
proclaim  to  human  hearts,  "Baptize  thyself  who 
canst  in  this  bowl,  believing  that  thou  mayest 
ascend  to  him  who  sent  down  the  bowl,  acknow- 
ledging for  what  thou  hast  been  made."'  This  is 
the  way  of  salvation,  which  is  elsewhere  described 
as  rebirth.^  In  the  discourses  which  belong  to 
what  we  might  call  the  common  type  or  school, 
and  serve  as  a  kind  of  scripture^  for  the  disciples, 
Tat  reminds  his  father  Hermes  that  it  has  been 
laid  down  that  "no  man  can  be  saved  before  re- 
birth"; and  he  enquires  what  sort  of  being  he  will 
be  who  is  born  theos  (divine),  a  child  of  God. 
Hermes  replies  in  mystical  language  that  he  has 
passed  out  of  himself  into  an  immortal  body,  he 
is  no  longer  what  he  was  before,  he  has  been  born 
in  Mind.''  It  is  a  doctrine  analogous  to  that  of 
the  Isiac  mysteries,  where  the  initiates  were  in  a 
fashion  reborn.  ^  The  priest  who  was  the  human 
"parent "  of  the  new  birth  of  Lucius  bore  the  name 
of  Mithra*^;  and  in  the  strange  text — whether 
liturgy  or  apocalypse — so  brilHantly  edited  by  the 
lamented  scholar  Dieterich,  the  believer  closes 
with  the  declaration  that  he  is  born  again,  he  has 
died  and  been  born  with  the  birth  that  gives  Ufe.  ^ 

'  Cap.    iv,   '0   KpUTTjp   7)  fMOvdi,    §  4. 

'  In  the  A6701  air6Kpv(pos  irepl  iraXiyyevefflas,  Cap.  xiii  (xiv). 

3  Ao7of  yeviKol,  x  (xi)  §§  I,  7;  xiii  (xiv)  §  I. 

4  'Eyevvi/i6r]v  iv  N<?,  §  3. 

s  Apulcius,  Metam.  XI,  xxi,  quodammodo  rcnatos. 

*  Ibid.,  XXV.        7  Eine  Mithras  lilurgie  (1903),  p.  14, 11.  31-34- 


232       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

The  precise  origin  of  Christian  baptism  is  ob- 
scure. How  early  the  rite  was  appHed  to  converts 
from  heathenism  into  the  Synagogue  is  uncertain. 
The  earHest  outside  testimony  is  found  curiously 
enough  in  the  discourses  of  Epictetus.'  The 
purifying  bath  played  a  great  part  in  the  disci- 
pline of  the  Essenes,  and  the  Gospels  describe  the 
baptism  of  John  as  designed  for  the  "remission 
of  sins."^  In  carr3dng  the  message  of  the  desert- 
preacher  into  Galilee,  "Repent  for  the  kingdom 
of  God  has  come  nigh,"  Jesus  did  not  continue 
his  practice.  Nor  did  he  instruct  his  missionaries 
to  revive  it.  The  Fourth  Gospel  does  indeed 
ascribe  baptism  to  the  Teacher  and  his  disciples,  ^ 
but  soon  after  withdraws  the  statement  concerning 
Jesus  himself  (iv,  2).  Cautious  scholars  agree  in 
viewing  the  injunction  on  the  Mount  in  Galilee ^ 
as  the  utterance  rather  of  the  Church  than  of  the 
Master;  for  the  triple  formula  "Into  the  name  of 
the  Father  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit" 
only  superseded  at  a  later  time  the  earlier  usage 

'  A  rrian,  II,  ix,  quoted  by  Brandt,  Hastings's  Encycl.  of  Religion 
and  Ethics,  ii,  p.  408.  Cp.  Jewish  Encycl.,  art.  "Baptism,"  and 
Kohler,  Grundriss  einer  Systematischen  Theologie  des  Judentums 
(1910),  p.  307. 

2  Cp.  Mark  i,  4;  Luke  iii,  3.  The  omission  of  this  reference 
in  Matt,  iii,  is  probably  due  to  reflection  on  the  difficulty  in- 
volved in  the  implied  consequence  that  the  destined  Messiah  in 
submitting  himself  to  such  baptism  made  a  confession  of  sin,  cp. 
iii,  14-15,  and  the  well-known  passage  in  the  Gospel  according 
to  the  Hebrews,  preserved  by  Jerome,  Contra  Pelag.,  iii,  2,  cp. 
Preuschen,  Antilegomena^,  p.  4. 

3  John  iii,  22.  a  Matt,  xxviii,  jg. 


Sacraments  as  Means  of  Salvation  233 

of  baptism  "in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ."'  The 
scene  at  Pentecost  in  Jerusalem  closes  with  the 
revival  of  the  appeal  of  John,  "Repent  and  be 
baptized  unto  the  remission  of  sins."  But  it  is 
with  a  difference.  It  has  the  same  outlook  to- 
wards the  future,  but  it  sounds  a  new  note,  not  of 
threat  but  of  promise.  It  is  not  a  warning  to  pre- 
pare for  impending  judgment;  it  is  an  invitation 
to  receive  a  gift,  the  quickening  energy  known 
as  "Holy  Spirit";  and  this  is  bestowed  on  those 
who  recognize  that  Jesus  has  been  indeed  "made 
Lord  and  Christ,"  and  are  ready  to  place  them- 
selves under  the  protection  of  his  name.  For 
names  were  powers;  and  their  use  by  those  who 
were  duly  authorized  to  employ  them  brought  all 
kinds  of  mysterious  forces  into  operation,  which 
might  react  dangerously  on  persons  who  had  no 
proper  title  to  wield  them.""  Baptism  thus  be- 
came the  means  of  entry  into  the  community  of 
the  heirs  of  the  Kingdom.  It  carried  within  it 
the  privilege  of  fellowship  with  the  believers  who 
waited  for  their  returning  Lord,  the  forgiveness  of 
past   transgression   and   consequent   acquittal   at 

^  Acts  ii,  38,  viii,  i6,  x,  48,  xix,  5.  Modern  students  have 
ceased  to  distinguish  between  the  prepositions  rendered  in 
English  by  "in"  and  "into."  On  the  textual  evidence  for  Matt. 
xxviii,  19,  see  Dr.  F.  C.  Conybeare  in  the  Hibbert  Journal 
(1903),  Vol.  i,  p.  102,  and  the  reply  of  Dr.  Chase,  Journal  of 
Theological  Studies  (1905),  Vol.  vi,  p.  483.  Cp.  Professor  Kirsopp 
Lake  in  Hastings's  E.  R.  E.,  ii,  p.  380. 

'See  the  story  of  the  strolling  exorcists  at  Ephesus  and  the 
seven  sons  of  Sceva,  Acts  xix,  13-17,  cp.  Heitmuller,  Im  Namen 
Jesu  (1903),  p.  266,  flf. 


234       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

the  approaching  great  assize,  and  a  mystical  par- 
ticipation in  a  new  kind  of  life  known  as  Spirit. 

No  special  interpretation  of  the  rite  is  suggested 
in  the  Book  of  Acts.  But  the  Apostle  Paul  sup- 
plies it  with  a  meaning  which  is  all  the  more  re- 
markable because  of  his  own  apparent  indifference 
to  it :  "  Christ  sent  me  not  to  baptize  but  to  preach 
the  Gospel" ;  and  at  Corinth  he  could  only  remem- 
ber baptizing  Crispus  and  Gaius  and  the  house- 
hold of  Stephanas.'  Who  initiated  the  other 
converts  we  are  not  told.  But  in  the  same  letter 
he  reminds  them  that  they  had  been  washed  and 
consecrated  and  made  righteous  in  the  name  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  in  the  Spirit  of  God.^ 
These  two  agencies,  however,  were  not  really 
distinct.  The  equation  ' '  The  Lord  is  the  spirit "  ^ 
enabled  the  Apostle  to  use  either  name  in  different 
connections  with  practically  the  same  meaning. 
To  be  in  Christ  or  to  have  Christ  formed  within 
was  an  experience  of  like  kind  with  life  in  the  Spirit 
or  the  possession  of  the  indwelHng  Spirit.  The 
attempt  to  express  the  sense  of  union  with  an  un- 
seen Power  in  terms  of  space  relations  which 
could  be  absolutely  inverted,  involved  no  less 
confusion  than  the  endeavour  to  separate  ideas 
that  constantly  tended  to  run  together.  Just  as 
at  the  baptism  of  Jesus  the  Spirit  was  affirmed  to 
have  actually  descended  into  him,^  so  did  the 
believer  receive  the   sanctifying  power  into  his 

'  I  Cor.  i,  14-17.  '  I  Cor.  vi,  II.  ^  2  Cor.  iii,  17. 

4  So  all  the  best  texts  in  Mark  i,  10,  instead  of  "upon." 


Sacraments  as  Means  of  Salvation  235 

own  person.  There  it  wrought  wondrous  effects. 
By  its  hallowed  might  the  dominion  of  sin  was 
broken,  and  sin  itself  was  done  to  death.  A  fresh 
element  of  being  was  imparted;  a  new  creation 
started  into  Hfe;  the  disciple  had  put  on  Christ; 
the  process  had  been  begun  which  should  give  him 
a  form  like  the  image  of  the  Son  himself,  when 
the  time  should  come  for  the  Lord  to  fashion  out 
of  the  body  of  our  humiliation  a  new  shape  like 
that  worn  by  himself  in  glory.  '^ 

With  impassioned  imagination  Paul  works  out 
this  conception  into  a  kind  of  mystical  drama. 
Analogies  and  metaphors  are  rapidly  employed 
to  indicate  meanings  more  poignant  than  ordinary 
words  could  hold.  Israel  had  received  its  baptism 
into  Moses  as  it  journeyed  under  the  guidance  of 
the  sacred  cloud,  and  entered  the  waters  of  the 
Red  Sea. ''  Thus  was  it  brought  within  the  sphere 
of  the  Providential  purpose  which  culminated  at 
Sinai  in  the  covenant  of  the  Law.  Baptism  into 
Christ  was  the  miniature  representation  of  a  yet 
vaster  scheme.  The  redemption  of  sinners  had 
required  the  Messiah's  death,  but  in  virtue  of  his 
spirit  of  holiness  Jesus  had  been  raised  from  the 
dead  and  exalted  as  Lord  to  the  right  hand  of  God. 
Thence  he  dispensed  the  gifts  and  graces  of  salva- 
tion, and  prepared  the  great  era  when  the  saints 
should  reign  with  him,  and  share  in  the  judgment 
destined  to  overtake  the  Powers  and  PrincipaHties 

'  Gal.  iii,  27;  Rom.  viii,  11,  29;  Phil,  iii,  21. 
'  I  Cor.  X,  1-2. 


236       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

which  had  disputed  his  sway.  What  Christ  had 
done  as  the  Man  from  heaven  for  humanity  at 
large,  the  behever  must  repeat  within  the  limits 
of  his  own  person.  He,  too,  must  die  to  sin,  that 
he  might  hve  to  righteousness.  So  sharp  must 
be  his  separation  from  all  evil  that  it  could  only  be 
described  as  "crucifixion  to  the  world"  (with  the 
singular  consequence  that  the  world  was  crucified 
to  him).^  How  could  this  profound  experience  be 
renewed  in  the  disciple?  The  process  of  baptism, 
as  he  was  immersed  beneath  the  water,  suggested 
his  deposition  in  a  tomb.  There  he  was  buried 
with  Christ  as  though  dead.  When  he  returned 
to  the  familiar  ways,  it  was  to  "walk  in  newness 
of  life."  He  was  acquitted  of  his  sin  by  this  sym- 
bolic death;  he  was  alive  unto  God  for  he  was 
risen  with  Christ.  So  completely  were  the  con- 
ditions of  the  present  identified  with  the  destinies 
of  the  future  that  even  in  this  life  the  saved  were 
already  in  possession  of  seats  "in  the  heavenlies" 
with  their  Lord  on  high.  ^ 

No  second  Paul  was  found  to  repeat  this 
language.^  It  is  echoed  in  the  Johannine  saying 
"we  know  that  we  have  passed  out  of  death  into 
life  because  we  love  the  brethren."''    But  this 

^  Gal.  vi,  14. 
l^  Rom.  vi,  3-1 1 ;  Ephes.  ii,  6.     The   part   which   the  water 
actually  played  in  this  result  is  not  explained.     The  Apostle's 
thought  moved  in  a  different  sphere. 

3  The  author  of  Ephesians,  if  not  Paul  himself,  is  very  nearly 
his  double. 

<  I  John  iii,  14. 


Sacraments  as  Means  of  Salvation  2:;^'] 

transition  is  not  effected  through  any  assimilation 
of  the  disciple  with  the  mystery  of  the  Cross. 
The  death  of  the  Son  of  God  is  not  a  type  which 
must  be  reproduced  within  the  sphere  of  the 
Church.  The  escape  from  death  is  not  achieved 
by  passing  through  it  as  a  single  act,  but  by 
emergence  out  of  it  as  a  permanent  unspiritual 
state.  The  instruments  of  this  passage  are 
obedience  and  faith.  "He  that  heareth  my 
word,  and  believeth  him  that  sent  me  hath 
eternal  life,  and  cometh  not  into  judgment,  but 
hath  passed  out  of  death  into  life." '  The  Hellenic 
mind  fixed  on  new  birth  as  the  more  natural 
emblem  of  this  mighty  change.-  The  believer 
must  be  "begotten  of  God."^  Those  who  are 
"of  God"  have  already  shared  in  the  victory  of 
Christ,  they  too  are  conquerors  of  the  Evil  One.'' 
This  divine  generation  is  already  announced  in 
the  Fourth  Gospel  and  connected  with  baptism: 
"Except  a  man  be  born  of  water  and  spirit  he 
cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God."  There 
is  good  reason  for  suspecting  that  the  reference  to 
water  is  a  later  intrusion  into  the  text.  ^  But  the 
promise  of  "living  water"  to  the  Samaritan  woman, 
parallel   to   the   promise   of   the    sacred    bread,  ^ 

*  John  V,  24.  '  Cp.  ante,  p.  229. 
3  I  John  iii,  9,  iv,  7  etc.                    ■<  Ihid.,  ii,  14;  John  x\'i,  33. 

s  Cp.  Wcndt,  The  Gospel  according  to  St.  John  (1902),  p.  120; 
Lake,  The  Influence  of  Textual  Criticism  on  the  Exegesis  of  tlie 
N.  T.  (1904),  p.  15. 

*  Cp.  John  iv,  10,  vi,  32;  "give  me  this  water,"  iv,  15;  "give 
us  this  bread, "  vi,  34. 


238       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

points  already  to  the  baptism  of  the  Gentiles^; 
and  the  mysterious  issue  of  blood  and  water  out 
of  Jesus'  side  upon  the  cross  is  probably  cor- 
rectly interpreted  as  a  symbol  of  the  life-giving 
sacraments  which  flowed  from  his  redeeming 
death. 

Baptism  thus  became  something  more  than  a 
rite  of  entrance  into  a  holy  community;  it  was 
the  actual  means  of  imparting  a  seed  of  immor- 
tality. As  it  acquired  more  and  more  significance 
for  placing  the  believer  on  the  first  step  of  the 
scala  ascensionis,  it  was  invested  with  increasing 
solemnity.  In  the  Teaching  of  the  Twelve  Apostles'' 
the  candidate  must  first  be  duly  instructed  in 
the  two  Paths  of  Life  and  Death.  Together 
with  the  baptizer  (of  whose  status  in  the  church 
nothing  is  said)^  he  must  fast  beforehand,  to 
secure  a  purity  of  person  where  there  is  nothing 
of  which  demons  can  lay  hold.  It  is  well  if  the 
fast  is  shared  by  others  also.  The  "living  water" 
of  a  running  stream  is  preferable.  Thrice,  it 
would  seem,  should  the  catechimien  be  immersed 
"in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and 
of  the  Holy  Spirit"'';  if  immersion  was  impracti- 

'  The  Evangelist  has  already  given  a  hint  in  that  direction  by 
the  allusion  to  baptism  and  the  activity  of  the  disciples,  iv,  1-2. 

2  Chap.  vii. 

3  Ignatius,  Smyrn.  viii,  2,  declares  the  presence  or  at  least  the 
sanction  of  the  bishop  necessary. 

4  Cp.  Juvenal,  Sat.  vi,  520-3,  ridiculing  the  Romans  who  would 
break  the  ice  in  the  Tiber  and  descend  thrice  into  the  sacred 
stream. 


Sacraments  as  Means  of  Salvation  239 

cable,  it  would  suffice  to  pour  water  three  times  on 
the  head  with  the  same  words.  The  triple  formula 
replaces  the  simpler  and  more  ancient  style,  "in 
the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,"  which  long  held  its 
ground  in  traditional  use,  and  was  only  finally 
set  aside  in  the  third  century. 

The  importance  attached  to  baptism  to  which 
the  name  of  "the  seal"  was  applied,'  may  be 
inferred  from  the  Corinthian  practice  cited  by  the 
Apostle  Paul,  of  baptizing  the  living  on  behalf  of 
the  dead.-  Even  the  departed  must  share  the 
grace.  The  great  tower  of  the  Church  which 
Hermas  sees  in  vision  with  its  shining  stones  is 
built  on  water,  for  that  is  the  element  by  which 
life  is  saved.  ^  In  a  later  vision  certain  stones 
are  brought  up  from  the  deep.  They  are  the  men 
of  past  generations  to  whom  "the  seal"  has  been 
preached  by  apostles  and  teachers  who  descended 
to  those  who  had  fallen  asleep,  and  bestowed 
on  them  the  baptism  which  gave  them  life  and 
brought  them  within  the  Church.-'  Baptism 
carried  with  it  the  knowledge  of  the  name  of  the 
Son  of  God.     Without  this  knowledge  not  even 

'  Cp.  2  Clem,  vi,  9;  viii,  6.  It  corresponded  to  the  Jewish 
circumcision,  also  designated  "the  seal,"  Achelis,  Das  Christcti- 
thiim,  i,  p.  122.  Cp.  Rev.  vii,  3-4,  where  the  144,000  are  sealed 
on  their  foreheads,  ix,  4,  contrasted  with  the  mark  of  the  Beast, 
xiii,  16.  For  the  use  of  the  symbol  cp.  Odes  of  Solomon,  iv,  8; 
viii,  16. 

'  I  Cor.  XV,  29.  Cp.  prayers  and  sin-ofiFerings  for  the  dead  in 
later  Judaism;  2  Mace,  xii,  42-45.  On  analogous  Oqihic 
practice,  cp.  Rohdc,  Psyche^,  ii,  128. 

3  Shepherd,  Vis.  Ill,  ii,  4,  iii,  5.  ■•  Ibid.,  Simil.  IX,  xvi. 


240       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

the   angels   could   enter   the   kingdom   of   God.' 
Must  they,  also,  enter  the  "laver  of  regeneration"? 
Baptism   was   thus   the   necessary   preliminary 
to  full  participation  in  the  privileges  of  the  Church. 
Borrowing   a    term   from    the    Mysteries,    Justin 
describes  it  as  "illumination."^     It  is  a  rebirth, 
in  which  the  beUever  is  made  anew.     He  is  no 
longer   a   child   of   necessity   and   ignorance;   he 
enters  into  freedom  and  enhghtenment ;  he  becomes 
a  child  of  choice  and  knowledge.     With  prayer 
and  fasting  the  company  of  the  faithful  joined  the 
candidates  in  beseeching  God  for  the  remission  of 
their  sins.     In  the  water  the  sacred  names  are  pro- 
nounced over  them,  of  "God  the  Father  and  Lord 
of  the  universe,"  of  "Jesus  Christ  who  was  cruci- 
fied under  Pontius  Pilate,"  and  "of  the  holy  Spirit 
who  through  the  prophets  foretold  all  things  about 
Jesus."     The  terms  are  gaining  clearer  definition  to 
ward  off  heresy.     The  Father  is  no  ultimate  Being, 
so  ultra-spiritualized  that   he   can  have  nothing 
to  do  with  creation ;  he  is  himself  its  Author  and 
Sovereign.     Christ  is  no  phantasm  who  vanished 
before  the  hour  of  pain  and  left  Jesus  to  suffer  a 
cruel  death ;  he  shared  the  agony  of  the  cross.     The 
holy  Spirit  provides  the  proof  of  Christ's  mission 
through  the  conformity  of  its  incidents  with  the  pro- 
phetic word.     Here  are  the  beginnings  of  a  simple 
explanation  of  the  Christian's  faith,  but  speculation 
has  not  yet  sought  to  determine  the  nature  of  the 
action  of  the  water  in  the  rite. 

'  Shepherd,  Simil.  IX,  xii,  6-8.  =■  I  Apol.  Ixi. 


Sacraments  as  Means  of  Salvation  241 

The  growth  of  the  Church  and  the  rising  dignity 
of  its  officers  naturally  enhanced  the  solemnities 
by  which  entrance  into  it  was  guarded.  The 
Canons  of  Ilippolytus  afford  us  precious  insight 
into  the  process  of  receiving  those  who  sought 
salvation  within  its  fold  in  the  beginning  of  the 
third  century. '  The  first  step  was  to  examine  the 
candidate  carefully  and  obtain  satisfactory  as- 
surance of  the  sincerity  of  his  purpose;  why  did 
he  abandon  his  own  previous  religious  practice? 
was  he  prepared  to  renounce  occupations  which  the 
Church  declared  unlawful?  This  might  involve 
grave  sacrifices.  No  silversmith  or  wood-carver 
or  painter  engaged  in  ministering  to  idolatry 
might  continue  his  craft.  The  actor  must  leave 
the  stage,  and  take  no  more  part  in  the  odious 
spectacles  of  the  abominations  of  the  gods.  The 
gladiator  and  the  fighter  with  wild  beasts  must 
abandon  the  arena.  The  school-master,  if  he 
does  not  know  how  to  make  a  living  otherwise, 
might  retain  his  post ;  but  on  condition  of  denounc- 
ing the  heathen  gods  whose  hateful  stories  he 
had  to  teach  as  demons,  and  daily  proclaiming 
to  his  pupils  "There  is  no  God  but  the  Father, 
the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Spirit."  The  case  of  the 
soldier  involved  many  difficulties.  No  Christian 
might  voluntarily  take  service  under  the  Em- 
peror;   that   would   involve   expulsion   from    the 

'  Cp.  §§60-140.     Cp.  the  Egyptian  Church  Order,  and  later 
manuals  in  the  fourth  century,  in   the  Apostolic  Constitutions, 
book  viii,  and  the  Testament  of  Jesus  Christ. 
16 


242       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

Church. '  Compulsion  might  alter  the  case,  but  the 
sword  must  not  shed  blood  under  pain  of  the  wear- 
er's exclusion  from  the  mysteries.  Every  form  of 
livelihood  promoting  unchastity  was  of  course 
prohibited;  and  no  one  who  practised  magic  or 
astrology  or  conjuring,  or  the  interpretation  of 
dreams,  could  be  received  except  on  the  condition 
of  surrendering  his  art.  The  maker  of  amulets 
must  cease  the  sale  of  "phylacteries,"  and  the 
usurer  must  exact  interest  no  more.  Three 
witnesses  must  testify  that  these  renunciations 
were  complete.  Holders  of  office  must  be  clothed 
in  the  ornament  of  justice,  or  they  may  not  remain 
in  church  during  the  bishop's  prayers.  The 
spread  of  Christianity  among  the  wealthy  in 
the  third  century  raised  many  difficulties  in  the 
performance  of  ceremonial  and  judicial  duties, 
which  were  solved  by  various  compromises. 
Members  of  heathen  priesthoods  of  course  resigned 
their  functions.  The  slave  of  an  idolatrous  master 
must  not  be  baptized  without  his  master's  consent : 
"Let  him  be  content  that  he  is  a  Christian." 
Was  faith  sufficient,  then,  to  procure  salvation? 
After  all,  his  eternal  safety  must  not  be  imperilled. 
If  he  was  in  danger  of  death  before  "admission  to 
the  gift, "  let  him  not  be  "separated  from  the  rest 
of  the  flock."  Ere  the  last  hour  arrived  the  holy 
rite  might  be  administered.  A  catechumen  who 
suffered  martyrdom  was  baptized  in  his  own  blood.  ^ 

'  Egyptian  Church  Order,  in  the  Can.  Hippol.,  p.  82. 

^  Cp.  Thecla's  baptism  of  herself  in  the  arena,  Acts  oj  Paul 


Sacraments  as  Means  of  Salvation  243 

The  period  of  preparation  for  baptism  whei. 
the  candidate  was  once  admitted  to  instruction, 
varied  with  many  circumstances.  The  teaching 
was  usually  given  by  a  deacon,  who  required  his 
catechumens  at  the  end  of  each  lesson  to  repeat 
their  renunciation  of  Satan  and  all  his  pompa. 
After  forty  days  they  might  be  sufficiently  ad- 
vanced to  attend  the  service  of  praise  and  the 
sermon  in  church;  and  if  they  were  judged  worthy 
baptism  might  follow.  But  some  might  be  kept 
back  for  months  or  even  for  years,  for  baptism 
was  sometimes  delayed  until  old  age.  Mean- 
while the  candidate  must  give  proof  of  the  graces 
of  charity  and  lowliness;  he  must  visit  the  sick, 
support  the  weak,  refrain  from  evil  speech,  sing 
in  the  church  psalms,  abhor  vain  glory,  despise 
pride,  and  love  humility.  Thus  trained  in  the 
principles  and  practice  of  Christian  brotherhood, 
when  he  is  at  length  truly  pure,  let  him  confess 
to  the  bishop,  and  seek  his  sanction  to  enjoy  the 
mysteries.  The  gospel  for  the  season  must  be  read 
over  him ;  the  last  trace  of  double-mindedness,  of 
secret  shame,  must  be  removed  beneath  its  solemn 
utterance;  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  none  can  be 
insincere.  It  was  a  severe  discipline,  designed  to 
produce  a  grave  and  lofty  type  of  character. 

and  Thecla,  xxxiv.  In  the  Acts  of  Callislratus,  §13  (Conj-bcare, 
The  Armenian  Apology,  etc.,  p.  333),  some  soldiers  arc  bound  and 
thrown  into  the  sea,  and  Callistratus  prays  that  the  waters  may 
be  to  them  for  the  baptism  of  regeneration.  Such  incidents 
are  frequent. 


244       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

On  the  fifth  day  of  the  week  before  the  Sunday 
on  which  the  rite  was  to  be  performed'  the  bapti- 
zands  bathed  and  took  food.  The  next  day 
(Friday)  they  fasted.  On  Saturday  they  were 
assembled  by  the  bishop  who  bade  them  kneel 
facing  the  east,  and  spread  his  hands  over  them 
to  expel  the  evil  spirit  from  their  every  limb, 
warning  them  against  any  action  that  would 
bring  it  back.  Breathing  on  them  he  made  the 
sign  of  the  cross  on  breast  and  forehead,  ears  and 
mouth.  They  passed  the  night  in  solemn  vigil, 
aided  by  holy  exhortations  and  prayers.  With 
such  reverence  did  they  approach  the  hour  when 
they  should  be  born  again  for  immortality. 

At  cockcrow  on  Sunday  morning  a  little  com- 
pany took  their  stand  by  running  water,  or  on  the 
sea-shore.  The  sponsors  removed  the  clothes  of 
little  children;  adults  prepared  themselves;  for 
women  female  aid  was  at  hand  to  take  off  their 
ornaments  and  unbind  their  hair,  that  nothing 
belonging  to  alien  spirits  might  descend  into  the 
water  of  regeneration.  The  bishop  then  offered 
prayer  over  the  oil  of  exorcism  which  he  handed 
to  a  presbyter  upon  his  left,  and  the  oil  of  unction 
entrusted  to  one  upon  his  right.  Facing  the 
west  the  baptizand  then  renewed  his  renunciation 
of  Satan  and  was  anointed  with  the  oil  of  exorcism. 
Turning  to  the  east  and  bowing  himself  in  the 
presence   of   the   Father,   Son,   and   Holy  Spirit, 

'  Any  Sunday  apparently.  There  was  a  tendency  to  concen- 
trate on  Easter  and  Pentecost.  __ 


Sacraments  as  Means  of  Salvation  245 

and  all  their  pompa,  he  went  down  into  the  water, 
where  a  presbyter  laid  his  hand  upon  his  head  and 
asked  the  first  solemn  question : 

Dost  thou  believe  in  God  the  Father  Almighty? 

On  the  affirmative  answer  "ego  credo"  the 
baptizand  was  dipped  beneath  the  water:  and 
similarly  after  the  second  and  third  questions: 

Dost  thou  believe  in  Jesus  Christ  the  Son  of  God, 
whom  Mary  the  Virgin  bore  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  who 
was  crucified  under  Pontius  Pilate,  died  and  rose 
from  the  dead  on  the  third  day,  and  ascended  to 
heaven  and  sitteth  at  the  right  hand  of  the  Father, 
and  shall  come  to  judge  the  living  and  the  dead? 

Dost  thou  believe  in  the  Holy  Spirit? 

At  each  immersion  the  sacred  formula  was 
repeated,  "I  baptize  thee  in  the  name  of  the 
Father  and  the  Son  and  the  Holy  Spirit." 

Not  yet,  however,  was  the  rite  complete.  On 
coming  up  out  of  the  water  the  new-born  was 
anointed  with  the  chrism  of  thanksgiving  over 
his  whole  person,  face,  and  head,  with  the  sign  of 
the  cross  on  forehead,  mouth,  and  breast.  Then 
he  was  dressed  and  brought  into  the  church. 
Laying  his  hands  on  each  in  turn,  the  bishop 
prayed  thus : 

We  bless  thee,  Almighty  Lord  God,  that  thou  hast 
made  these  worthy  to  be  born  again  and  dost  pour 
over  them  thy  Holy  Spirit,  that  they  may  now  be 


246       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

united  to  the  body  of  the  Church,  never  to  be  sepa- 
rated from  it  by  unworthy  deeds.  Grant  rather  to 
those  to  whom  thou  hast  now  granted  remission  of 
sins  the  further  pledge  of  thy  kingdom  through  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  through  whom  be  glory  to  thee 
with  himself  and  the  Holy  Spirit  for  ever  and  ever, 
Amen. 

Then  each  of  the  baptized  was  kissed  upon  the 
forehead  by  the  bishop  as  a  mark  of  love,  with 
the  words  "The  Lord  be  with  you."  They 
answered,  "And  with  thy  Spirit";  and  the 
whole  ceremony  concluded  with  prayer  in  which 
the  entire  congregation  joined,  kissing  the  newly 
born  with  great  rejoicing.^  Such  was  the  formal 
beginning  of  "becoming  God." 

Round  such  a  rite,  the  culmination  of  such 
strenuous  discipline,  such  earnest  prayers,  such 
solemn  ceremonies,  with  so  august  a  purpose, 
emotion  quickly  gathered.  The  "water  of  life" 
as  Justin  called  it,  the  "seal  of  Christ,"  became 
for  TertuUian  the  "standard  of  faith,"  the 
"sacrament  of  water,"  the  "enrolment  of  God."^ 
Later  on  it  is  "  the  beginning  and  source  of  Chris- 
tian graces,"  the  "new  creating  wave,"  the 
"second  birth  into  a  new  man,"  the  "union  with 
immortality." 3     But    how    could    immersion    in 

'  In  the  eucharistic  celebration  which  followed,  cups  of  milk 
and  honey  were  brought  to  remind  them  that  they  had  just 
been  born  again  as  babes  in  Christ. 

2  Census  Dei,  cp.  Warren,  Liturgy  0}  the  Ante-Nicene  Churchy 
p.  62. 

3  Allen,  Christian  Institutions,  p.  401. 


Sacraments  as  Means  of  Salvation  247 

water  accompanied  by  the  utterance  of  certain 
words  confer  so  great  a  gift,  and  endue  the  perisli- 
able  soul  with  everlasting  life?  Naturally  a 
manual  of  Church  Order  provides  no  answer  to 
such  a  question.  To  many  minds  it  had  perhaps 
never  occurred.  If  Justin  ever  speculated  on  it 
in  private,  he  only  offers  description  to  his  readers 
without  explanation.  But  other  writers  attempt 
some  kind  of  rationale.  Barnabas'  connects 
the  water  of  baptism  that  brings  remission  of  sins 
with  the  cross,  and  following  the  usual  identifica- 
tion of  the  cross  with  a  tree  discovers  in  the  first 
Psalm  a  prophetic  forecast  of  the  water  and  the 
cross  together.  "He  who  doeth  these  things 
shall  be  as  the  tree  which  is  planted  at  the  partings 
of  the  waters"  means  "Blessed  are  those  who 
hoped  on  the  cross  and  descended  into  the  waters  " ; 
and  the  "unfading  leaf"  signifies  that  "every 
word  which  shall  come  forth  from  your  mouth  in 
faith  and  love  shall  be  for  the  conversion  and  hope 
of  many."  "^  For  this  use  water  had  been  prepared 
by  the  example  of  Jesus  himself,  for  "our  God," 
says  Ignatius,^  "Jesus  the  Christ,  was  conceived 
by  Mary,  by  the  dispensation  of  God  both  of  the 
seed  of  David  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  He  was 
bom  and  was  baptized,  that  by  this  experience'' 

'  In  the  letter  contained  in  the  Codex  Sinaiticus  of  the  New 
Testament,  now  at  Petrograd. 

'  Ep.  Barnah.  xi,  I.  ^  Ephes.  xviii,  2. 

4  TV  irdOeL,  i.e.,  by  thus  submitting;  or  perhaps  "by  his 
Buffering." 


248  Phases  of  Early  Christianity- 
he  might  purify  the  water."  The  idea  apparently 
is  that  Jesus  carried  the  Spirit  into  the  water,  and 
thus  endowed  it  with  efficacy  to  purge  away  sin. 
On  this  theme  TertulHan  joyfully  enlarges  in 
his  tract  on  Baptism. '  He  has  to  meet  criticism 
founded  on  the  simplicity  of  the  act  compared 
with  the  magnitude  of  the  promised  effect.  There 
was  no  pomp,  no  special  novelty  of  preparation, 
no  expense.^  A  man  is  dipped  in  water,  a  few 
words  are  uttered,  he  comes  forth  not  much  (or 
not  at  all)  the  cleaner— how  can  the  consecutio 
eternitatis  be  rendered  credible  under  such  condi- 
tions? How  impossible,  said  his  opponents,  to  be 
made  over  again  by  water!  So  he  points  to  its 
age  at  the  beginning  of  the  world.  It  was  the 
oldest  element  in  the  universe,  and  the  most  digni- 
fied, as  the  seat  of  the  spirit  brooding  over  it  in 
creative  purpose.  Water,  therefore,  knows  how 
to  impart  life.  God  has  made  the  material  sub- 
stance which  he  has  disposed  throughout  all  his 
works,  obey  him  also  in  his  own  pecuHar  sacra- 
ments. What  governs  the  earthly  life  becomes 
the  agent  also  of  the  heavenly;  and  the  nature  of 
the  waters,  sanctified  by  the  Holy  One,  itself  con- 
ceived the  power  of  sanctifying.  The  attribute 
of  the  genus  is  of  course  to  be  found  also  in  the 
species.  It  makes  no  difference  whether  a  man  be 
washed  in  sea  or  pool,  in  stream  or  spring,  in  lake 

'  In  the  opening  chapters,  i-vi. 

^  Contrast  Apuleius'  account  of  the  costs  of  his  successive 
initiations  into  the  mysteries  of  Isis  and  Osiris. 


Sacraments  as  Means  of  Salvation  249 

or  trough;  all  waters,  in  virtue  of  the  ancient 
privilege  of  their  origin,  after  invocation  of  God, 
attain  the  sacramental  power  of  sanctification. 
The  Spirit  immediately  supervenes  from  heaven, 
and  rests  upon  them,  sanctifying  them  from  him- 
self, with  the  result  (expressed  in  violently  anti- 
thetic terms)  that  the  spirit  of  man  is  corporeally 
washed  in  the  waters,  and  the  flesh  is  spiritually 
cleansed.  The  guilt  being  removed,  concludes 
Tertullian,  the  penalty  vanishes  too;  and  the  way 
is  open  for  restoration  to  the  likeness  of  God  which 
man  first  lost  by  sin.  That  likeness,  he  affirms,  lies 
in  his  eternity.  Elsewhere  he  sums  up  the  whole 
matter  thus^: 

The  flesh  is  washed  that  the  soul  may  be  rid  of  its 
stains.  The  flesh  is  anointed  that  the  soul  may  be 
consecrated.  The  flesh  is  sealed  (signed  with  the 
cross)  that  the  soul  also  may  be  protected.  The 
flesh  is  overshadowed  by  the  imposition  of  hands  that 
the  soul  may  be  illuminated  by  the  Spirit.  The 
flesh  is  fed  with  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  that 
the  soul  may  be  made  fat  from  God. 

The  gift  of  the  Spirit  was  not,  however,  complete 
in  the  water,  for  after  the  baptizand  had  emerged 
and  been  duly  anointed,  the  Holy  Spirit  was 
invoked  upon  him  with  the  imposition  of  hands. 

Then,    over   our   cleansed   and   blessed   bodies  that 
Holiest   Spirit  willingly  descends  from  the   Father. 
It  is  like  the  dove  after  the  waters  of  the  Flood  by 
^  On  the  Resurrection  of  the  Flesh,  viii. 


250       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

which  the  old  iniquity  was  purged,  announcing 
peace  to  the  earth  after  the  divine  wrath.  So  as  our 
flesh  issues  from  the  lavacrum  after  its  old  sins,  the 
dove  of  the  Holy  Spirit  flies  to  us  with  the  peace  of 
God  sent  out  from  heaven  where  is  the  Church  typi- 
fied by  the  Ark. 

There  were  still  objectors  who  pleaded  that 
baptism  could  not  be  indispensable  to  salvation 
because  there  is  no  mention  of  the  baptism  of  the 
Twelve.  The  plea  was  evaded,  though  TertuUian 
admits  that  the  answer  was  forced  enough,  by  the 
suggestion  that  the  Apostles  were  sprinkled  when 
the  spray  dashed  over  the  boat  in  the  storm  upon 
the  lake ;  and  Peter  was  certainly  immersed  when 
he  tried  to  walk  upon  the  waves.  The  answer  of 
a  good  Scripturalist  was  plain.  Whatever  might 
have  been  omitted  in  the  case  of  men  chosen 
by  Christ  himself,  the  Law  of  baptism  has  been 
imposed,  and  the  formula  prescribed:  "Go  and 
teach  the  nations,  baptizing  them  into  the  name  of 
the  Father  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit. " 
The  comparison  of  the  definition  "Unless  a  man  be 
reborn  of  water  and  spirit  he  shall  not  enter  into 
the  kingdom  of  heaven"  with  this  law  has  tied 
faith  to  the  necessity  of  baptism. ' 

Baptism,  then,  was  a  rebirth,  dvaTflvviQCJtq  as 
Justin  called  it";  it  was  the  passage  from  death 
to  life  in  the  language  of  Hermas^:  "Before  a  man 

'  De  Baptism,  xlii.  '  i  Apol.  Ixi,  Ixv. 

3  Shepherd,  Sim.  IX,  xvi,  3. 


Sacraments  as  Means  of  Salvation  251 

bears  the  name  of  the  Son  of  God  he  is  dead;  but 
when  he  receives  the  seal  he  puts  away  mortahty 
and  receives  life.  The  seal,  then,  is  the  water. 
They  go  down  into  the  water  dead  and  come  up 
alive."  "When  we  received  the  remission  of 
sins,"  says  Barnabas,"  "and  put  our  hope  in  the 
Name,  we  became  new,  being  created  again  from 
the  beginning,  wherefore  God  truly  dwells  in  us 
in  the  habitation  which  we  are."  "Being  bap- 
tized," says  Clement  of  Alexandria,  "we  are 
illuminated;  being  illuminated  we  become  sons; 
being  made  sons,  we  are  made  perfect;  being  made 
perfect,  we  are  made  immortal."^ 

The  newly  baptized  were  then  led  into  the 
church ;  they  entered  for  the  first  time  into  the  full 
privileges  of  membership ;  they  were  admitted  into 
its  most  sacred  rites.  The  Sunday  worship  had 
long  been  the  chief  agency  in  maintaining  and 
quickening  their  religious  life;  it  gained  now  a 
still  richer  significance.  They  were  delivered  from 
the  control  of  a  rigid  Fate;  they  were  safe  from  the 
assaults  of  demons;  they  were  brought  into  direct 
communion  through  the  Eucharist  with  their 
heavenly  Lord,  present  as  Spirit  even  in  hymn  and 
prayer,  and  mysteriously  imparting  his  own  body 
and  blood  in  the  sacred  food. 

^xvi,  8. 

'PcBdag.,  I,  xxvi,  l  (cd.  Stahlin);  (pwTL^6neea  is,  of  course, 
the  mystery-word.  The  passage  closes  with  the  citation,  "  I  have 
said  that  ye  are  gods  and  all  sons  of  the  Highest,"  Ps.  Ixxxii,  6, 
cp.  ante,  p.  56.  The  process  was  only  completed  at  the  Resur- 
rection. 


252       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

The  general  features  of  Christian  worship  had 
been  derived  from  the  Jewish  synagogue.  The 
Greek  translation  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  sup- 
plied the  lessons  with  which  the  readers  opened 
the  service  while  the  congregation  assembled. 
By  the  side  of  prophecy  and  psalm  the  "Recol- 
lections of  the  Apostles, "  called  Gospels,  took  their 
place ;  and  letters  bearing  apostolic  names,  or  those 
of  honoured  churches  such  as  the  Roman  letter 
to  Corinth,  or  of  eminent  personalities  like  Igna- 
tius,— Apocalj^pses  full  of  prophetic  fire  and 
ascribed  to  companions  of  the  Lord  like  John  or 
Peter, — were  read  for  instruction,  encouragement, 
and  hope.  Psalms  and  hymns  were  sung,  and 
prayers  were  offered.  Hymn  and  prayer  doubt- 
less belonged  also  to  Gentile  worship.  Unhappily 
none  of  the  stated  prayers  used  in  the  temple 
services  of  the  Greek  ritual  have  been  preserved. 
But  poet  and  philosopher  alike  attest  the  growth 
of  an  elevated  spirit  in  private  devotion,  and 
inscriptional  evidence  is  not  wanting  for  the 
demand  for  purity  of  heart  in  the  approach  to  God 
through  the  public  sanctuary.  The  more  formal 
petitions  were  directed  like  those  of  the  Athenian 
state  "for  the  health  and  safety  of  the  Athenians, 
their  wives  and  children,  and  all  in  the  country. " 
Socrates  commended  the  Lacedaemonians  because 
they  prayed  alike  in  public  and  private  that  the 
Gods  would  give  them  -ia  xaXd  in  addition  to 
Tot  ayaOa.  ^  It  is  the  term  for  the  high  blessings  of 
'Plato,  2  Alcibiades,  148c. 


Sacraments  as  Means  of  Salvation  253 

noble  character,  as  when  Pindar  prays:  "O  God, 
grant  me  to  desire  things  honourable,  earnestly 
seeking  things  possible  in  my  life's  prime. "'  The 
note  of  tragedy  with  its  passionate  oppositions  of 
grief  and  suffering  and  its  conviction  that  the 
fundamental  justice  of  the  world  will  secure  the 
punishment  of  wrong,  reminds  us  again  and  again 
of  the  pleadings  of  the  Psalms.  The  Chorus  of  the 
Medea  pray  for  a  pure  heart:  "May  chastity,  the 
fairest  gift  of  the  gods,  abide  with  me.  "^  When 
Socrates  and  Phaedrus  rise  from  the  shade  of  the 
plane-tree  beneath  which  they  have  been  convers- 
ing, Socrates  cries,  "Beloved  Pan,  and  all  ye  other 
gods  who  haunt  this  place,  give  me  beauty  in 
the  inward  soul,  and  may  the  outward  and 
the  inward  man  be  at  one";  and  Phaedrus  adds, 
"Ask  the  same  for  me,  for  friends  should 
have  all  things  in  common."^  So  Epictetus 
bade  the  tempted  youth  resort  in  his  hour  of 
need  to  God: 

Desire  to  be  in  purity  with  your  own  pure  self  and 
with  God.  Then  when  any  such  appearance  visits 
you  (the  mental  picture  of  a  wanton  wife),  Plato 
says,  Have  recourse  to  expiations,  go  a  suppliant  to 
the  temples  of  the  Averting  Deities  .  .  .  Great  is  the 
combat,  divine  is  the  work;  it  is  for  kingship,  for 
liberty,  for  happiness,  for  freedom  from  perturba- 
tion. Remember  God,  call  upon  him  as  a  helper  and 
protector.  "♦ 

^Pylh.,  xi,  51.  'Medea,  63$. 

3  Plato,  Phadriis,  2'j().  ^Arrian,  II,  xviii,  4-5. 


254       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

The  disciple  in  the  Hermetic  community  sang: 

Ye  Powers  that  are  within  me,  praise  the  One  and 
All;  sing  with  my  will,  O  all  ye  Powers    within  me. 

0  holy  Knowledge,  illumined  by  thee,  praising  through 
thee  the  light  which  Mind  discerns,  I  rejoice  in  the 
joy  of  Mind.  And  thou,  Self-control,  sing  praise 
with  me;  O  my  Righteousness,  praise  the  Righteous 
through  me;  O  my  Fellowship,  praise  the  All;  O  Truth 
through  me  praise  the  Truth ;  O  Good,  praise  the  Good ! 

1  thank  thee,  Father,  thy  Word  (Logos)  praises  thee 
through  me.  Receive  from  me  all  reasonable  sac- 
rifice.^ 

The  devotional  idiom  is  not  ours;  but  well  might 
lamblichus,  the  pupil  of  Porphyry,  affirm  that  the 
highest  kind  of  prayer  is  sealed  with  that  ineffa- 
ble union  which  places  all  power  in  the  gods,  and 
enables  our  souls  to  rest  perfectly  in  them : ' '  Prayer 
nourishes  our  intellect,  gently  draws  up  the  man- 
ners of  our  mind,  implants  divine  things  within 
us,  awakens  an  indissoluble  communion  and 
friendship,  nourishes  the  love  of  God,  and  kindles 
the  divine  element  in  the  soul. "  ^  Plutarch  might 
gently  deprecate  some  of  the  cruder  forms  of 
Hellenic  ritual;  TertulHan  and  Cyprian  might 
look  back  with  shame  and  loathing  at  some  of 
the  baser  spectacles  into  which  the  stories  of  the 
gods  were  dramatized;  but  other  tendencies  were 
powerfully  at  work  in  popular  religion  as  well  as 

^AoyiKT]v   dva-iav,  cp.   Rom.  xii,   I.     Corp.  Hermet.,  xiii,   18-19 

(slightly  condensed). 
^  On  the  Mysteries,  v,  26. 


Sacraments  as  Means  of  Salvation  255 

in  philosophy.  Over  the  sanctuary  of  ^sculapius 
at  Epidaurus,  the  Deity  whom  devout  worshippers 
addressed  as  Saviour,  Healer,  King,  and  even 
identified  with  Zeus  himself,  ran  the  inscription: 

"Into  an  odorous  temple  he  who  goes 
Should  pure  and  holy  be;  but  to  be  wise 
In  what  makes  holiness  is  to  be  pure."" 

The  Delphic  oracle  had  long  discerned  the  need- 
ful conditions  of  spiritual  approach  to  divine 
things,  and  the  Pythia  uttered  her  warnings 
against  reliance  on  outward  rites  instead  of  inward 
sanctity : 

O  stranger,  if  holy  of  soul,  enter  the  shrine  of  the 
holy  God,  having  but  touched  the  lustral  water; 
lustration  is  an  easy  matter  for  the  good;  but  all 
ocean  with  its  streams  cannot  cleanse  the  evil  man. 
[And  again :]  The  temples  of  the  gods  are  open  to  all 
good  men,  nor  is  there  any  need  of  purification;  no 
stain  can  ever  cleave  to  virtue.  But  depart,  whoever 
is  baneful  at  heart,  for  thy  soul  will  never  be  washed 
by  the  cleansing  of  the  body.^ 

In  North  Africa  a  Numidian  sanctuary  tersely 
summed  up  its  own  significance  in  words  addressed 
to  those  who  came  to  pray.  Bonus  intra,  melior  exi.  ^ 

»  Cp.  Clem.  Alex.,  Strofn.,  V,  i. 

^Farnell,  Cults  of  the  Creek  States,  iv,  p.  212. 

3  "Enter  good,  go  forth  better."  The  Roman  writers  of  the 
first  century  a.d.  are  full  of  lofty  sentiments  of  a  similar  kind; 
cp.  Pliny,  Panegyr.,  3;  Seneca,  Ep.  xl,  xKni,  and  a  passage  quoted 
by  Lactantius,  Div.  Inst.,  VI,  xxv;  Persius,    Sat.  ii,  ad  fin. 


256       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

Within  the  Church  the  Christian  was  brought 
into  immediate  fellowship  with  his  heavenly  Lord. 
There  Christ  was  present  in  the  form  of  vSpirit; 
and  with  him,  as  later  belief  testified,  was  the  host 
of  angels  ready  to  bear  the  prayers  of  the  faithful 
to  the  throne  of  grace. '  The  first  mould  of  these 
prayers  was  supplied  from  the  synagogue.  The 
Psalter  and  the  prophetic  books  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment constituted  an  inexhaustible  source  of  the 
language  of  petition;  and  Hellenic  piety  was  not 
without  its  own  influence  from  the  side  of  philo- 
sophy and  mystical  reUgion.^  Judaism  was  al- 
ready engaged  in  framing  its  own  Hturgical  forms, 
and  the  first  Christian  prayers  in  the  Gentile 
churches,  while  employing  Greek  speech,  were 
naturally  imbued  with  the  motives  and  senti- 
ments of  the  "Praises"  of  Israel.  The  brief 
utterances  reported  in  the  Book  of  Acts,  the 
hymns  of  heavenly  worship  in  the  Apocalypse, 
are  typical  representatives  of  the  new  devotions. 
The  invocation,  "O  Master,  ^  thou  that  didst  make 
the  heaven  and  the  earth  and  the  sea  and  all  that 
in  them  is,"  has  its  parallels  in  the  later  Jewish 

^Testament  of  Jesus  Christ,  i,  22;  they  visit  the  church  at 
night. 

^Cp.  for  example  the  hymn  of  the  Stoic  Clcanthes,  or  the 
prayer  with  which  the  Poimandres  closes.  On  the  general 
theme  see  Norden's  Agnostos  Theos,  and  Reitzenstein,  Hellenist. 
Mysterien-Religionen. 

iActs  iv,  24.  The  term  UffTora  was  in  use,  though  rarely, 
in  Greek  religious  language,  as  an  epithet  (for  instance)  of  Zeus, 
Apollo,  Dionysus,  Asclepius,  etc. 


Sacraments  as  Means  of  Salvation  257 

literature,  such  as  Judith's  entreaty,  "Master 
of  the  heavens  and  of  the  earth,  creator  of  the 
waters,  king  of  every  creature,"^  or  Moses' 
prayer  to  the  "Lord  of  all  that  is  in  heaven  and 
earth  and  sea."^  Creation  itself,  throughout  the 
whole  sphere  of  existence  in  heaven,  on  earth, 
beneath  the  earth,  and  on  the  sea,  joins  in  a 
mighty  hymn,  ascribing  "blessing  and  honour 
and  glory  and  dominion  to  him  that  sitteth  on  the 
throne  and  to  the  Lamb.  "^  This  motive  power- 
fully influenced  Christian  thought,  as  the  repeated 
descriptions  of  God  as  "Father  of  the  universe" 
suffice  to  prove:  "Let  us  fix  our  gaze,"  says  the 
Roman  letter  to  the  Corinthians,  "on  the  Father 
and  Creator  of  the  whole  world."'*  It  was  rein- 
forced by  philosophy:  had  not  Plato  described 
God  as  the  "Father  and  Maker  of  all  this  uni- 
verse, "^  and  did  not  Epictetus  teach  that  he  was 
the  Maker  and  Father  and  Guardian  also  of  man  ? 
To  the  troublers  of  the  Corinthian  Church  Clement 
depicts  the  order  of  the  world  designed  by  its 
Creator  and  Master  for  peace  and  concord,  in  terms 
such  as  Balbus  might  have  used  in  pleading  for 
the  Stoics  in  the  Ciceronian  debate  on  the  "Nature 

'  Judith  ix,  12.  Cp.  J  Mace,  ii,  2,  "  Lord,  King  of  the  heavens, 
and  Master  of  all  creation." 

^  Josephus,  Antiqq.,  IV,  iii,  2. 

i  Rev.  V,  13;  cp.  xiv,  7;  Acts  xiv,  15;  Secrets  of  Enoch,  ii,  2. 
On  the  general  significance  of  God  as  Creator  in  the  Jewish 
theology,  cp.  Bousset,  i?e/.  dcsJudcnthums',  pp.  410-12 ;  Bcrtholet, 
Bibl.  Thcol.  des  A.  Ts.,  ii  (191 1),  p.  367. 

4  I  Clem,  xix,  2.  s  Cp.  ante,  Epictetus,  in  Arrian,  I,  Lx. 

17 


258       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

of  the  Gods."'  So  deeply  was  Epictetus  moved 
by  the  spectacle,  even  to  its  smallest  details,  that 
he  becomes  himself  almost  lyrical,  he  longs 
"to  sing  hymns  and  bless  the  Deity  and  tell  of  his 
benefits."^ 

For  this  element  of  piety  Christian  worship 
provided  ample  expression.  Its  most  sacred 
service  bore  the  name  of  Eucharist  or  "Thanks- 
giving." Scripture,  prayers,  preaching,  all  com- 
bined to  prepare  for  it.  After  his  solemn  counsel 
to  the  discontented  Corinthians,  Clement  breaks 
into  a  lofty  prayer  which  may  be  taken  as  a  typical 
Church  utterance.  ^  It  ranges  over  many  themes, 
and  may  reproduce  many  current  phrases  already 
cherished  through  familiar  use.  But  it  is  in  no 
sense  a  compilation  from  fixed  forms;  it  is  still 
free,  as  it  was  half  a  century  later  in  the  days 
of  Justin.  Tenderly  are  the  needs  of  the  sick 
and  suffering,  the  wanderers,  the  hungry,  the 
prisoners  and  the  weak,  presented  to  the  Master 
who  can  help  and  succour.''  Gratitude  for 
creation,  humble  confession  of  sin,  pass  into  peti- 
tions for  peace  and  concord  among  all  the  dwellers 
upon  earth;  and  the  prayer  concludes  with  the 
entreaty   that    the    counsels   of   rulers    may   be 

1 1  Clem,  xx;  cp.  De  Natura  Deorum,  II,  v,  xix,  xxxvi-xl. 
Arnold,  Roman  Stoicism  (191 1),  p.  204. 

'  Arrian,  I,  xvi. 

3 1  Clem,  lix,  3-Ixi.  The  text  only  came  to  light  in  the  Codex 
discovered  by  Bryennius  in  Constantinople,  1875. 

•«  I  Clem,  lix  4.  Phrases  from  this  prayer  are  found  in  later 
liturgies,  cp.  Swainson,  The  Greek  Liturgies  (1884),  p.  40. 


Sacraments  as  Means  of  Salvation  259 

directed  by  the  heavenly  Master,  king  of  eternity, 
to  what  is  fair  and  pleasing  in  his  sight.  When 
these  prayers  ended,  the  unbaptized  (and  at  a  later 
day  the  penitents)  were  dismissed,  while  any  who 
had  been  newly  received  into  the  Church  prepared 
for  the  first  time  to  share  in  what  the  Apostle 
Paul  had  called  "the  Lord's  Supper. "' 

This  was  originally  the  common  meal  of  the 
Church.  Such  celebrations  were  widely  practised. 
In  recounting  the  privileges  accorded  to  his 
nation  Josephus  proudly  related  that  Caesar  had 
granted  permission  to  the  Jews  of  the  Dispersion 
to  meet  for  this  purpose.^  Among  the  papyri 
recovered  from  Oxyrhynchus  are  two  invitations 
to  dine  at  the  "table  of  the  Lord  Serapis, "  one  in 
the  Serapeum,  the  other  in  a  private  house,  at 
three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.^  The  worship- 
pers of  Alithras  followed  a  similar  usage.  In 
the  temple  of  Isis  at  Pompeii  a  large  apartment 
was  discovered  where  such  meals  were  served; 
it  was  furnished  with  a  marble  table;  there  were 
remains  of  vessels  and  the  bones  of  fowls. '»  Beside 
the  market -hall  in  the  forum  stood  a  chamber 
belonging  to  a  College  of  the  Augustales,  It  held 
an  altar  for  offerings  to  the  genius  of  the  Emperor ; 
remains  of  sheep  and  goats  were  found  in  a  small 
pen;  the  common  chest  still  contained  silver  and 

'  I  Cor.  xi,  20.  'Joseph.,  Antiqq.,  XIV,  x,  8. 

3 Pap.  Oxyrh,  i,  no,  iii,  523. 

^Mau,  Pompeii,  its  Life  and  Art,  tr.  Kelsey,  2nd  ed.  (New 
York,  1902),  p.  180;  Fiihrer  durch  Pompeii^  (1898),  p.  46. 


26o       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

copper  coins  to  furnish  forth  the  meal .  ^  The  Thera- 
peuts  of  Egypt  kept  a  special  festival  on  the 
evening  of  Pentecost.  The  members  of  the  com- 
munity, dressed  in  white,  took  their  places  in 
order  of  seniority,  the  men  on  one  side,  the  women 
on  the  other,  while  the  young  men  served.  The 
simple  food,  bread  and  hyssop  seasoned  with  salt, 
and  plain  water,  warm  or  cold,  made  an  austere 
contrast  to  the  elaborate  temple  banquets  which 
Tertullian  derided  in  the  Gentile  cults.  The 
Scriptures  were  read  and  hymns  were  sung;  a 
solemn  dance  diversified  the  proceedings;  at  sun- 
rise a  prayer  was  offered  as  the  worshippers  turned 
to  the  east,  and  the  meeting  ended.  ^ 

At  Corinth  the  brethren  brought  their  own  food 
to  their  feast  of  love,^  but  it  might  happen  that 
the  host  of  the  house-church  might  provide  the 
meal,  or  that  the  wealthier  might  share  their 
contributions  with  the  poor.  That  the  gathering 
was  exposed  to  occasional  disorders  is  plain  from 
the  severe  warnings  of  the  Apostle  Patd.''  Glut- 
tony and  drunkenness  disfigured  it;  the  punish- 
ments of  unworthy  participation  were  grave; 
sickness  and  even  death  had  overtaken  the  guilty. 
At  what  point  in  the  meal  the  hallowed  act  of 
commemoration  took  place  which  proclaimed  the 
Lord's  death  till  his  return  from  heaven,  is  not 

'Mau,  Pompeii,  p.  lOO;  Fuhrer,  p.  28. 
'  Philo,  The  Contemplative  Life,  viii-xi. 

3 As  an  expression  of  fraternal  "charity"  it  bore  the  name  of 
A  gaps,  cp.  Jude,  ver.  12. 
4 1  Cor.  xi,  20-34. 


Sacraments  as  Means  of  Salvation  261 

clear.  The  Apostle  writes  to  correct  a  crying 
abuse,  not  to  inform  posterity.  Who  presided, 
who  broke  the  bread  and  gave  thanks,  who  dis- 
tributed it,  what  words  were  said,  what  prayers 
were  offered,  we  know  not.  The  rite  looked  back- 
ward to  the  Cross,  it  pointed  forwards  to  the 
Parousia.  It  brought  the  believer  into  direct 
communion  with  his  Lord,  a  fellowship  of  life 
to  the  pure,  of  mortal  peril  to  the  unworthy. 
The  loaf  and  the  cup,  therefore,  were  something 
more  than  bread  and  wine.  Those  who  had 
received  Christ  into  their  own  persons  in  the  form 
of  Spirit  at  their  baptism,  received  him  again 
through  these  other  physical  media  in  the  Thanks- 
giving ;  but  how  the  daily  food  became  the  vehicle 
of  such  an  effect  was  a  sacred  mystery. 

Little  by  little,  however,  the  holy  Supper  took 
the  central  place  in  the  worship  of  the  Church. 
The  details  of  usage  are  obscure ;  they  varied  from 
place  to  place;  and  the  literature  of  the  second 
century  gives  us  scanty  details  till  we  reach  the 
writers  of  its  latter  decades.  For  the  communi- 
ties addressed  in  the  Teaching  of  the  Twelve  Apostles 
the  Thanksgiving  was  still  connected  with  a  meal 
of  the  whole  congregation.^  Ignatius,  also,  ap- 
parently uses  the  terms  Eucharist  and  Agape  as 
equivalent : ' '  Let  that  be  considered  a  valid  Eucha- 

*  Teaching,  x,  i.  The  prayers  that  follow  seem  to  refer  to  the 
general  blessings  of  creation  and  sustenance  and  close  the  Agap6. 
The  Eucharistic  prayers  in  ix  are  placed  first  in  dignity,  but 
probably  followed  in  order  of  time. 


262       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

rist  which  is  celebrated  by  the  bishop,  or  by  one 
whom  he  appoints  .  .  .  it  is  not  lawful  to  baptize 
or  to  hold  an  Agape  without  the  bishop."'  By 
the  middle  of  the  century,  however,  there  is  a 
change.  Whether  in  consequence  of  the  Edict  of 
Trajan,  or  because  the  wealthier  Christians  no 
longer  cared  to  sit  at  the  same  table  with  their 
humbler  brethren,  or  to  avoid  the  risk  of  unseemly 
conduct  such  as  Paul  rebuked,  or  to  rebut  the  popu- 
lar charges  of  "Thyestean  banquets"  founded  on 
gross  interpretations  of  ritual  language,  or  to  main- 
tain and  enhance  the  solemnity  of  the  Thanks- 
giving, it  was  detached  from  the  Agape,  and 
celebrated  as  the  chief  function  of  the  Sunday 
worship.  After  the  lessons  from  the  Gospels 
and  the  Prophets,  the  exhortation  of  the  President 
and  the  congregational  prayers,  bread,  wine,  and 
water,  says  Justin,^  were  brought.  Over  these 
simple  elements  further  prayers  and  thanks- 
givings were  offered  by  the  presiding  officer. 
There  were  apparently  no  fixed  forms  in  obligatory 
use;  just  as  the  travelling  prophets  had  been 
permitted  complete  freedom  of  utterance,  ^  the 
pastor  of  the  congregation  or  one  of  his  colleagues 
among  the  presbyters  spoke  from  the  fulness  of  his 
heart  "according  to  his  ability,"  and  the  people 

^  Smyrn.,  viii. 

'  I  Apology,  Ixvii.  According  to  the  Martyrium  Justin  did  not 
attend  the  church-meetings  in  Rome,  §2;  he  may,  therefore, 
be  describing  the  usage  of  Asia  Minor,  from  which  he  had 
come. 

3  Teaching  of  the  Twelve  Apostles,  x,  6. 


Sacraments  as  Means  of  Salvation  263 

responded  with  Amen.'  The  bread  and  wine,  no 
longer  "common,"  were  distributed,  as  the  wor- 
shippers approached  the  table  and  received  the  ele- 
ments from  the  President.  Alms  were  collected 
and  deposited  with  him;  it  was  his  duty  to  apply 
them  to  the  relief  of  the  poor,  the  maintenance  of 
widows  and  orphans,  the  succour  of  prisoners,  the 
support  of  strangers  from  other  churches.  For 
the  sick  to  whom  the  consecrated  food  might  bring 
bodily  health  as  well  as  spiritual  grace,  portions 
were  reserved  and  carried  away  by  the  deacons. 

Around  the  Thanksgiving,  for  which  the  bread 
and  wine  were  at  first  brought  by  the  faithful, 
gathered  other  offerings,  sometimes  of  milk  or  even 
cheese,^  fruits  and  flowers,  possibly  also  fish  for 
the  Agape,  and  oil  for  the  unction  at  baptism. 
Store-chambers  were  built  beside  the  churches, 
and  rules  were  made  for  the  appropriation  of  the 
gifts  unconsumed  in  the  holy  service.  In  later 
usage  part  was  allotted  to  the  clergy,  and  part  was 
distributed  among  the  needy.  Those  who  on 
baptism  had  abandoned  forbidden  trades,  the 
refugees  from  persecution,  the  sufferers  in  prison 
and  mine,  the  captives  of  pirates  or  hostile  maraud- 
ers, the  stricken  with  plague,  all  made  large 
demands    on    Christian     benevolence;    and  the 

'In  I  ApoL,  Ixv,  the  thanks  are  offered  to  "the  Father  of  the 
Universe  through  the  name  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit." 

*The  Montanists  were  moekingly  called  Arto-tyrites,  "Bread- 
and-Cheesers, "  Epiphanius,  Haer.,  xlix,  2,  quoted  by  Achelis, 
Das  Christentum,  i,  179. 


264       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

Eucharistic  service,  where  the  donors*  names 
were  mentioned  in  prayer  and  the  appeal  of 
charity  was  reinforced  by  the  example  of  the 
Son  of  God  who  had  given  himself  for  man's 
salvation,  became  the  occasion  for  the  continuous 
response  of  brotherly  love. 

The  early  frescoes  reveal  the  original  simplicity 
of  the  arrangements.  In  the  Greek  Chapel  at 
Santa  Priscilla  a  painting  was  discovered  in  1896 
belonging  probably  to  the  second  century.  The 
congregation — represented  by  five  men  and  one 
woman — are  seated  at  the  table  on  which  are 
bread  and  fish  and  a  cup,  and  large  baskets  of 
bread  are  placed  on  each  side.  The  President 
stands  on  the  left  and  stretches  out  his  hand  to 
the  loaves  before  him.  Bread  and  fish  are  repre- 
sented also  in  the  early  catacomb  of  St.  Domitilla. 
In  the  Church  of  SS.  MarcelHno  e  Pietro  the  same 
offerings  are  presented,  and  two  women,  Agap6 
(love)  and  Irene  (peace),  stand  on  either  side, 
ready  to  mingle  the  cup  of  water  and  wine. ' 

At  the  beginning  of  the  third  century  the  usage 
is  already  changing.  The  congregations,  it  might 
be,  were  too  large  to  sit  around  the  President's 
table.  The  number  of  church  officers  had  in- 
creased. But  the  ancient  idea  of  the  last  meal  of 
Christ  with  his  disciples  still  found  expression  as 
the  presbyters  were  seated   round  their  bishop. 

'  Cp.  Barnes,  The  Early  Church  in  the  Light  of  the  Monuments 
(1913).  On  the  use  of  water  only  in  the  Eucharistic  cup  see 
Harnack's  essay,  Texte  und  Untersuch.,  vii,  2  (1891). 


Sacraments  as  Means  of  Salvation  265 

The  service  has  already  gained  at  Rome  the  name 
of  Missa,  "mass"';  its  secret  character  is  indi- 
cated in  the  title ' '  mysteries. "  ^  It  was  celebrated 
on  Sunday  by  the  bishop,  apparently  in  the  after- 
noon, ^  but  custom  varied  greatly.  In  Carthage 
the  celebration  took  place  before  dawn " ;  Alexand- 
ria maintained  the  evening  hour.^  The  sacred 
food  was  already  guarded  with  such  reverence  that 
for  crumb  or  drop  to  touch  the  ground  was  a 
presage  of  ill  and  a  cause  of  pain;  and  nothing 
unclean,  such  as  a  fly,  must  soil  the  cup.^  Those 
who  intended  to  communicate  must  have  purified 
themselves  by  previous  fast,  like  the  baptizands; 
and  the  church  officers  around  the  bishop,  pres- 
byters, deacons,  and  even  readers,  must  be 
dressed  in  white  as  for  a  festival.'  The  offerings 
for  the  actual  rite  are  brought  by  the  deacons  from 
the  store-chamber;  the  bishop  and  presbyters  lay 
their  hands  on  them  together,  the  bishop  saying 
"The  Lord  be  with  (you)  all,"  and  the  people 
responding  "And  with  thy  spirit. "»  The  "Missa" 
followed;  the  people  came  up  to  the  table,  and 
received  the  Eucharist  from  the  bishop  (presbyters 

'  The  formula  of  dismissal  for  catechumens  ran,  He,  missa  est, 
where  "missa"  is  said  to  be  equivalent  to  "missio. " 

'  Canons  of  Hippolytus,  201,  204. 

3  An  agape  for  widows  might  follow,  which  must  be  over  before 
sunset,  1 83 ;  and  the  oblations  must  be  distributed  before  the  same 
hour,  160. 

-JTcrt.,  De  Cor.,  iii. 

sBigg,  Tlie  Christian  Platonists  of  Alexandria  (1886),  p. 103. 

*  Canons,  207,  209;  Tcrt.,  ibid. 

1  Canons,  201-3.  *  Ibid.,  20-22. 


266       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

and  deacons  might  assist  in  the  distribution),  the 
bread  being  handed  to  them  with  the  sacred 
words  Hoc  est  corpus  meum.  The  offerings  of 
first-fruits  were  then  presented.^  Still  were  gifts 
made  from  the  threshing-floor  and  the  wine-press, 
fruits,  vegetables,  oil,  honey,  milk,  wool,  and  the 
wages  of  manual  labour;  and  separate  thanks- 
givings, concluding  with  the  Gloria,  were  uttered 
over  each.  ^ 

That  symbolism  of  various  kinds  should  gather 
round  such  a  ritual  was  perfectly  natural,  and 
inscriptional  evidence  of  high  interest  came  to 
light  in  the  last  century,  attesting  the  character  of 
the  sacred  food.  In  1881  Professor  (now  Sir  Wil- 
liam) Ramsay,  travelling  in  Phrygia,  discovered 
a  stone  inscribed  with  some  verses,  and  bearing  a 
date  equivalent  to  216  of  our  era.  The  poem 
proved  to  be  the  epitaph  of  Abercius  a  priest, 
perhaps  bishop  of  Hieropolis,  a  champion  of  the 
Catholic  hierarchy  against  the  Montanists.^  In 
highly  poetic  style  Abercius  described  his  travels, 
in  the  East  through  Syria  and  beyond  the  Euphra- 
tes, in  the  West  to  Rome.  Among  the  sectaries 
of  his  native  hills  he  announces  that  he  had  found 
fellow- worshippers  everywhere : 

In  company  with  Paul  I  followed,  while  everywhere 
Faith  led  the  way,  and  set  before  me  for  food  the 
Fish  from  the  fountain  mighty  and  stainless  (whom 

'  Cawows,  186,  187,  194.  'Ibid.,2g. 

3  See  Lect.  Ill,  p.  201. 


Sacraments  as  Means  of  Salvation  267 

a  pure  virgin  grasped),  and  gave  this  to  friends  to 
eat  always,  having  good  wine,  and  giving  the  mixed 
cup  with  bread.  ^ 

With  the  letters  of  St.  Paul  in  his  hands  the 
Apostle  was  his  travelling  companion,  and  the 
orthodox  Faith  his  guide,  and  from  city  to  city  she 
brought  to  him  the  sacred  food  of  the  mighty  and 
spotless  Fish,  once  enclosed  by  a  pure  virgin,  the 
mysterious  symbol  of  the  Son  of  God.  ^  The  foun- 
tain which  gushed  from  the  rock  in  Hebrew  story 
became  the  emblem  of  baptism  in  the  Catacombs, 
where  the  rock  was  the  accepted  symbol  of  Christ. 
Only  the  baptized  might  eat  the  bread  and  drink 
the  cup,  through  which  they  fed  upon  the  person 
of  their  Lord.  Similar  imagery  occurs  in  an 
inscription  of  slightly  later  date,  found  at  Autun 
in  France  in  1839,  commemorating  an  unknown 
Pectorius. 

Celestial  offspring  of  the  Divine  Fish,  fortify  thy 
heart,  since  thou  hast  received  in  the  midst  of  mortals 
the  immortal  source  of  divine  love.  Friend,  rejoice 
thy  soul  with  the  water  that  ever  gushes  forth  from 

'Translation  of  Bishop  Lightfoot,  Apostolic  Fathers,  Vol.  I, 
part  ii,  p.  480. 

'  The  origin  of  this  is  very  obscure.  The  derivation  of  it  from 
the  initial  letters  of  the  Greek  title  Jesus  Christ,  Son  of  God, 
Saviour,  is  of  course  only  an  ingenious  device  to  provide  some 
sort  of  explanation.  Christ  is  often  represented  in  the  catacombs 
as  a  fisherman,  cp.  Mark  i,  17;  but  the  source  of  the  identification 
of  him  with  a  Fish  has  never  been  satisfactorily  traced.  Cp. 
Tart.,  De  Baptismo,  i,  "But  we  little  fishes  {pisciculi)  after  the 
example  of  our  IXGTS  Jesus  Christ,  are  born  in  water." 


268       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

the  wisdom  that  gives  treasures.  Receive  this  sweet 
sustenance  as  the  honey  of  the  Saviour  of  the  saints; 
eat  with  delight,  holding  the  Fish  in  thy  hands.  ^ 

What,  then,  were  the  ideas  which  gathered 
round  this  rite?  When  the  beHever  had  been 
baptized,  had  been  adopted  as  a  son  of  God,  had 
been  even  born  again  out  of  God,  had  been  en- 
dowed with  immortaHty  and  had  become  Geoi;, 
what  significance  had  it  for  his  salvation,  why  was 
it  so  carefully  guarded  from  common  eyes? 

Three  ideas  may  be  traced  in  the  scanty  remains 
of  early  literature  concerning  it.  As  its  name 
implies,  it  was  primarily  an  act  of  thanksgiving. 
In  accordance  with  the  teaching  of  the  Apostle 
Paul,  it  was  also  an  act  of  commemoration  and 
communion.  Under  the  influence  of  tradition,  in 
its  environment  of  Gentile  cults  and  with  the 
background  of  Jewish  analogies,  it  became  a 
sacrifice  and  begot  a  priesthood. 

Thank-offerings  were,  of  course,  not  unknown 
in  Greek  practice;  Hellenic  worship  had  also  its 
eiicharisteria.''  But  the  Church  gave  the  name 
Eucharist  to  its  most  sacred  function  in  token  of 
its  gratitude  for  the  twofold  blessings  of  nature 
and  of  grace.  The  thanksgivings  at  the  close  of 
the  common  meal  prepared  the  way  for  the  adminis- 

'  Barnes,  The  Early  Church  in  the  Light  of  the  Monuments  (1913), 
P-  133- 

^'EvxoLpi-cTTripia.,  sc.  tepti,  e.g.  roh  deots  Bdeiv  evxapicTTripLa,  Polyh.,  V, 
xiv,  8. 


Sacraments  as  Means  of  Salvation  269 

tration  of  the  bread  and  the  cup,  in  the  simple 
ritual  of  the  Teaching  of  the  Twelve  Apostles: 

Then,  after  being  filled,  thus  give  ye  thanks: 

We  give  thanks  to  thee,  Holy  Father,  for  thy  holy 
Name,  which  thou  hast  caused  to  dwell  in  our 
hearts,  and  for  the  knowledge  and  faith  and  immor- 
tality which  thou  didst  make  known  to  us  through 
Jesus  Christ  thy  Servant';  to  thee  be  the  glory  for 
ever. 

Thou,  Almighty  Sovereign,  didst  create  all  things  for 
thy  name's  sake,  and  food  and  drink  thou  didst  give 
to  men  for  enjoyment,  that  they  should  give  thanks 
unto  thee;  but  to  us  thou  didst  of  thy  grace  give 
spiritual  food  and  drink  and  life  eternal  through 
thy  Servant. 

Before  all  things  we  give  thee  thanks  that  thou  art 
mighty;  to  thee  be  the  glory  for  ever. 

The  actual  words  of  blessing  ran  thus : 

First  concerning  the  cup:  We  give  thanks  to  thee, 
our  Father,  for  the  holy  vine  of  David  thy  Servant,^ 
which  thou  didst  make  known  to  us  through  Jesus 
thy  Servant ;  to  thee  be  the  glory  for  ever. 

And  concerning  the  broken  bread :  We  give  thanks 
to  thee,  our  Father,  for  the  life  and  knowledge  which 
thou  didst  make  known  to  us  through  Jesus  thy 
Servant;  to  thee  be  the  glory  for  ever. 

Justin  explains  to  Trypho  that  this  element 
in  Christian  devotion  was  founded  on  the  two-fold 

•Cp.  Ads  iii,  13,  26;  iv,  27,  30. 
»Cp.  Acts,  iv,  25;  Ps.  Ixxx,  8-19. 


270       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

manifestation  of  God's  goodness,  the  creation 
of  the  world  with  all  things  therein  for  the  sake 
of  man,  and  our  deHverance  from  the  evil  in  which 
we  were  involved,  and  the  total  overthrow  of 
the  hostile  PrincipaHties  and  Powers  through  the 
death  of  Christ. '  Physical  and  spiritual  benefits 
were  thus  set  side  by  side.  Grateful  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  Divine  Goodness  was  the  foundation 
of  the  Christian's  trust,  the  temper  of  his  whole 
life.  "Every  morning,"  says  the  earliest  of  the 
Apologists,  Aristides,"  "they  give  thanks  and 
praise  to  God  for  his  loving-kindness  towards 
them,  and  for  their  food  and  drink  they  offer 
thanksgiving  to  him. "  The  same  motive  appears 
again  and  again  in  connection  especially  with  the 
believer's  redemption  in  the  various  Acta  of  the 
Apostles^;  and  it  is  elaborated  at  great  length 
in  the  liturgies  of  the  fourth  century,  such  as 
the  Testament  of  our  Lord,^  the  prayers  in  the 
Apostolical  Constitutions  (vii,  25,  viii,  12),  and 
other  sources.  Around  the  Eucharist  gathered 
all  the  Christian's  hopes.  Joy  in  the  divine  gifts 
of  earth  and  heaven,  the  sense  of  deliverance,  of 
rescue  from  the  constraint  of  Fate,  of  release  from 
bondage  to  evil  and  the  control  of  demons,  of  a 
passage  from  great  darkness  into  marvellous  Hght, 

^Dialogue,  xlvi,  cp.  i  ApoL,  Ixvi.  'Apol.,  xv. 

3  Von  der  Goltz,  Das  Gebet  in  der  altesten  Christenheit  (1901),  p. 
300. 

4  Cooper  and  Maclean  (1902);  ascribed  by  Maclean  to  310 
A.D.,  see  the  beautiful  "Hymn  of  Praise  for  the  Dawn"  with 
which  the  Sunday  morning  service  opened,  p.  79,  etc. 


Sacraments  as  Means  of  Salvation  271 

of  freedom  and  gladness  even  in  the  midst  of 
danger  and  trial, — are  all  blended  in  the  mystery 
of  the  Thanksgiving. 

The  practice  of  commemoration  had  long  been 
familiar  to  Greece  in  the  cultus  of  heroes;  and 
temples,  monuments,  and  coins,  spread  through 
Asia  Minor,  the  Archipelago,  and  south  Italy, 
show  how  widely  it  was  diffused  through  the 
Eastern  Mediterranean.  The  founders  of  schools 
were  the  objects  of  reverent  regard  to  their 
disciples.  Epicurus  provided  by  his  will  for 
an  annual  ceremony  in  commemoration  of  his 
father,  mother,  and  brothers  as  well  as  himself 
upon  his  birthday,  the  loth  of  Gamelion,  and 
he  further  instituted  a  reunion  of  his  disciples  in 
honour  of  Metrodorus  and  himself  on  the  20th 
of  each  month.'  To  a  philosopher  like  Justin  it 
was  therefore  perfectly  natural  to  quote  the 
memorial  words  reported  by  the  Apostle  Paul, 
' '  Do  this  in  remembrance  of  me^ " ;  and  to  Trypho 
he  emphasizes  the  Passion  which  Christ  had 
endured  on  behalf  of  those  who  were  purified  in 
soul  from  all  iniquity.  This  sentiment  is  indeed 
for  the  most  part  in  the  background  in  the  litera- 
ture of  the  second  century,  but  it  re-appears 
later,  and  is  vigorous  in  the  liturgies  of  the  fourth.  ^ 
It  passes,   however,   into  something  much  more 

'  Diog.  Laert.  x,  lo.  Cp.  the  arrangements  of  the  lady  Epicteta 
of  Thcra,  Bocckh,  C.I.C.,  ii,  361,  No.  2448. 
»  I  Apol.,  Ixvi. 
jCp.  Testament  of  our  Lord,  pp.  73,  172. 


272       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

intimate,  uniting  the  believer  to  his  heavenly- 
Lord  in  such  a  way  that  the  disciple  who  had 
already  received  the  pledge  of  immortality  in 
baptism  was  confirmed  in  the  process  of  becoming 
6 so?  by  partaking  mystically  of  Christ's  body 
and  blood,  the  physical  media  of  his  incarnate 
Hfe. 

When  the  Apostle  Paul  was  urging  the  Corin- 
thian converts  to  flee  from  idolatry,  he  reminded 
them  of  the  significance  of  participation  in  conse- 
crated food.  The  pious  Israelite  of  early  days 
who  went  to  the  sanctuary  "to  see  God's  face," 
was  privileged  to  share  through  his  sacrifice  in 
a  common  meal  with  Deity.  ^  The  worshipper 
who  sat  at  the  table  of  Sarapis^  was  brought  into 
the  sphere  of  his  activity,  placed  under  his  pro- 
tection. "To  lay  a  couch  for  the  god"  was  the 
common  Greek  phrase,  where  we  should  say  to 
"lay  a  table.  "^  The  ritual  was  known  in  Rome 
as  lectisternia.  The  old  Latins  and  Italians 
believed  the  deities  of  the  house  to  be  present  at 
their  meals,  and  Mr.  Warde  Fowler  has  shown 
that  the  Penates  were  the  spirits  of  the  food  itself.  ^ 
Among  the  most  solemn  festivals  of  the  Roman 
year  was  the  Banquet  of  Jove,  on  the  Ides  of 
September,  in  the  temple  on  the  Capitol.  Jupiter, 
with  his  face  painted  red,  was  present  on  a  couch; 

'Cp.  W.  Robertson  Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites  (1889),  p. 
247. 

^Cp.  ante,  p.  64.  3  Rohde,  PsychP  (1903),  i,  1293. 

'i  Religious  Experience  of  the  Roman  People  {if^ii),^^.  \-j2,  193. 


Sacraments  as  Means  of  Salvation  273 

Juno  and  Minerva,  each  on  her  own  sella,  were 
on  his  right  and  left.  The  ceremony  began  with 
a  sacrifice,  probably  of  a  white  heifer.  It  was 
attended  by  the  Magistrates  and  Senate,  who  thus 
entered  into  communion  with  the  august  Deities, 
and  formed  "one  of  the  most  singular  and  striking 
scenes  of  Roman  public  life."'  Not  only,  how- 
ever, did  the  worshipper  thus  feast  with  the  Deity, 
he  might  even  be  still  more  closely  united  with 
him  by  feeding  on  him.  There  w^ere  strange  rites 
in  different  forms  of  Dionysus- worship,  in  which 
a  sacrificial  bull  representing  the  god  himself  was 
torn  in  pieces  and  consumed  in  haste.  The 
devotees  who  took  part  in  this  Omophagy^  re- 
ceived the  deity  into  themselves.  The  believer 
became  entheos,  he  was  so  closely  identified  with 
the  object  of  his  worship  that  the  god  deigned  to 
enter  into  him  through  the  consumption  of  the 
divine  flesh,  and  nourish  him  with  a  mysterious 
supernatural  power.  Happy  is  he,  says  Euripi- 
des, "who  knoweth  the  mysteries  of  gods,  is 
pure  in  life,  and  revelling  on  the  mountains  hath 
the  Bacchic  communion  in  his  soul!"^  Dancing 
furiously  over  the  mountain  slopes  to  the  wild 

'  Wardc  Fowler,  Roman  Festivals  (1899),  p.  216.  Cp.  Ramsay, 
Journ.  Hellen.  Sttcdies,  1912,  pt.  i.  "The  Tckmoreian  Guest- 
Friends." 

"Literally  "raw-eating."  See  Miss  Karrison,  Prolegomena  to 
the  Study  of  Greek  Religion  (1903),  pp.  481-497:  Farnell,  Culls  of 
the  Creek  Slates,  v  (1909),  pp.  161,  164  IT.;  cp.  Hibbert  Journal, 
1904,  p.  306. 

3  First  ehoral  ode  in  the  Bacchae,  75  ff.,  tr.  Famcll. 
18 


274       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

strains  of  savage  music,  the  mystic  fell  on  the  bull, 
tore  it  asunder,  and  swallowed  the  bleeding  flesh. 
It  was  a  hideous,  ghastly  form  of  purification. 
But  it  produced  in  the  allied  Orphic  communities 
"a  doctrine  irrational  and  unintelligible,  and  for 
that  very  reason  wrapped  in  the  deepest  and  most 
sacred  mystery ;  a  belief  in  the  sacrifice  of  Dionysus 
himself,  and  the  purification  of  man  by  his  blood. " 
It  was  the  more  noteworthy  because,  "apart  from 
this  sacramental  tasting  of  the  blood,  the  Orphic 
worshipper  held  it  an  abomination  to  eat  the  flesh 
of  animals  at  all. "  ^  All  true  worshippers,  accord- 
ingly, became  in  a  mystical  sense  one  with  the  god, 
they  bore  his  name,  just  as  some  of  the  obscurer 
communities  of  Christians  have  believed  that 
they  have  so  completely  assimilated  their  Lord 
that  they  have  called  themselves  "Christs." 

In  the  Osiris  ritual,  as  interpreted  by  M.  Moret, 
kindred  ideas  are  to  be  traced.  ^  In  the  mystery 
by  which  the  dead  man  is  identified  with  the  god, 
is  dismembered,  and  renewed,  Osiris  again  under- 
goes his  death  and  reconstruction.  After  this 
sacrifice  a  supper  is  served,  and  the  offerings — 
bread,  fruits,  wines,  milk,  and  butter — which  are 
presented  to  him  bear  the  curious  name  of  "the 
Eye  of  Horus. "  This  means,  says  our  guide, 
that  "they  are  the  offspring  of  the  son  of  Osiris, 
his  progeny,  his  flesh,  for,  according  to  Egyptian 

'Prof.  Gilbert  Murray  in  Euripides  ("Athenian  Drama," 
iii),  pp.  167-8. 

^ Kings  and  Gods  of  Egypt  (1912),  p.  97. 


Sacraments  as  Means  of  Salvation  275 

metaphysics,  the  god  brings  forth  into  reality  every- 
thing that  he  names  and  that  he  sees.  That  which 
is  offered  to  Osiris  is  his  own  body  and  blood, 
which  the  god  divides  among  the  priests  and 
relatives,  under  the  appearances  of  liquid  and 
solid  offerings.  This  holy  food,  eaten  in  common, 
this  holy  communion,  makes  clergy  and  wor- 
shippers together  participants  in  the  blessings  of 
his  passion  and  sacrifice." 

Such  examples  as  these  made  it  possible  for 
believers  at  a  very  early  date  to  place  a  highly 
realistic  interpretation  on  the  language  of  Paul 
and  the  Fourth  Evangelist.  ^  The  Apostle  regard- 
ed the  bread  and  the  cup  as  charged  with  a  mys- 
terious energy,  capable  of  inflicting  even  death  on 
those  who  did  not  distinguish  their  sacred  char- 
acter from  common  food.''  For  that  reason  the 
person  and  the  heart  must  both  be  prepared  to 
receive  them  worthily.  To  secure  purity  of  body, 
the  intending  communicant  must  fast  beforehand; 
to  secure  purity  of  spirit,  he  must  confess  his  sins 
and  be  reconciled  with  his  enemies.^  The  letters 
of    Ignatius    reveal    the    importance    which    he 

'The  suggestion  that  Paul  owed  anything  himself  to  the  Mys^ 
teries  has  been  discussed  recently  by  Kennedy,  St.  Pan!  and  the 
Mystery  Religions  (1913),  and  Clemen,  Der  Einfluss  der  Mysterien- 
religionen  atif  das  dlleste  Christentum  (1913);  cp.  Lictzmann, 
on  I  Cor.  (1907),  p.  124  (in  Ilandbuch  zum  Neuen  Testament). 
The  few  afTmities  of  language  are  su£Sciently  explained  out  of 
current  usage. 

^  I  Cor.  xi,  29-30. 

i  Teaching  of  the  Twelve  Apostles,  xiv,  1-2. 


276       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

attached  to  the  service.  Heretics  are  charged  with 
abstaining  from  the  Eucharist  and  prayer,  because 
they  do  not  confess  that  the  Eucharist  is  the  flesh 
of  Jesus  Christ  which  siiffered  for  our  sins,  and  was 
raised  by  the  Father's  goodness.^  Such  is  its 
intrinsic  power  that  it  is  the  medicine  of  immortal- 
ity, the  antidote  against  death,  which  secures  life 
for  ever  in  Jesus  Christ.^  So  it  holds  a  central 
place  in  the  bishop's  exhortations  to  unity.  One 
Eucharist  must  be  observed,  he  tells  the  Church 
at  Philadelphia,  because  there  is  one  flesh  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  one  cup  for  union  with 
his  blood.  ^ 

There  is  already  a  suggestion  that  it  is  a  sacrifice, 
for  the  ardent  writer  continues  that  there  is  one 
altar,  as  there  is  one  bishop  with  the  presbytery 
and  the  deacons  his  fellow-servants.''  How  far 
his  language  is  figurative  his  enthusiastic  style 
really  prevents  us  from  deciding.  The  Gospel 
is  for  him  a  sort  of  body  of  Jesus  in  which  he  can 
take  refuge  as  Christ's  flesh  ^;  or  faith  is  the  Lord's 
flesh,  and  love  his  blood.  "^  But  these  metaphors 
cannot  outbalance  the  practical  identification  of 
the  "bread  of  God"  with  the  actual  body  that  was 
crucified  and  afterwards  taken  to  the  skies.  ^  In 
what  sense  the  two  could  be  regarded  as  the  same, 

^Smyrn.,  vii,  i.  ^Ephes.  xx,  2.  ^Philad.,  iv. 

4  The  phrase  suggests  that  Ignatius  had  been  chosen  bishop 
from  his  diaconate,  and  had  never  been  a  presbyter,  and  perhaps 
even  found  them  rather  in  the  way  (Dr.  Odgers). 

^Philad.,  V,  I.  ^  Trail.,  v'm,  I. 

T  Ephes.  V,  2;  Smyrn.  vii,  i. 


Sacraments  as  Means  of  Salvation  277 

or  how  one  was  transmuted  into  the  other,  we 
are  not  told.  The  imperative  command  that  no 
Eucharist  shall  be  accounted  valid  which  is  not 
celebrated  by  the  bishop  (or  one  whom  he  ap- 
points)' implies  his  possession  of  some  special 
authority,  but  of  its  method  of  operation  no  word 
is  said. 

It  is  no  common  bread  or  common  drink,  pleads 
Justin  to  Emperor,  Senate,  and  people  of  Rome ;  it 
has  the  power  to  effect  a  change  in  our  flesh  and 
blood,  and  nourish  them  so  as  to  become  incor- 
ruptible. ^  He  compares  the  change  to  that  of  the 
Logos  at  the  incarnation  in  assuming  both  flesh 
and  blood  for  our  salvation  in  the  person  of  Jesus 
Christ.  So  does  the  Logos,  when  his  own  prayer 
is  uttered,  unite  himself  with  the  elements  in  loaf 
and  cup.  For  Irenaeus  also  the  bread  which  re- 
ceives the  invocation  of  God  is  no  longer  common 
bread.  Arguing  with  heretics  who  denied  the 
resurrection  of  the  body,  he  appeals  to  the  Eucha- 
rist for  confirmation.  It  consists  of  two  realities, 
an  earthly  and  a  heavenly,  and  when  our  bodies 
receive  it,  they  cease  to  be  liable  to  corruption, 
they  possess  the  hope  of  resurrection  to  eternity.  ^ 
The  mode  of  union  of  the  two  xpiy^xczTa  is  not 
explained,  nor  is  the  nature  of  the  heavenly  energy 
which  imparts   the  guarantee  of  bodily  revival 

^  Smyrn.,  viii,  i. 

'  I  ApoL,  Ixvi;  Loofs,  art.  Abendmahl ,  in  Hauck's  Prol.  Rcal- 
EncycL,  i,  p.  41. 

3  Adv.  liar.,  IV,  xviii,  5. 


278       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

further  defined.  Irenasus  is  content  to  reason 
after  the  fashion  of  the  Apostle  Paul  to  the  Corin- 
thians. If  the  flesh  does  not  attain  salvation,  the 
Lord  has  not  redeemed  us  with  his  blood ;  the  cup 
and  the  bread  are  fruitless,  in  the  Eucharist  there 
is  no  communion  with  him,^  The  cutting  of  the 
vine  when  duly  planted  fructifies  in  its  season,  the 
grain  of  wheat  cast  into  the  ground  bears  increase 
in  the  ear,  through  the  agency  of  God's  Spirit; 
when  they  receive  the  Logos,  they  become  the 
Eucharist,  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ.  So  our 
bodies  may  suffer  decomposition  in  the  earth; 
but  if  they  have  been  nourished  with  the  Eucharist, 
the  Word  of  God  will  grant  them  resurrection  and 
the  Father  will  bestow  on  them  immortality.' 
For  those  who  have  become  6eot  by  incorpo- 
ration into  the  Church,  the  Eucharist  is  thus  a 
kind  of  physical  insurance  that  soul  and  body 
shall  enjoy  together  the  blessedness  of  everlasting 
life.  Tertullian  lays  it  down  that  while  the  soul 
is  chosen  for  God's  service  in  virtue  of  its  salvation, 
it  can  only  render  that  service  through  the  flesh. 
Step  by  step  are  they  associated,  in  the  water  of 
baptism,  in  the  holy  unction,  in  the  signing  with 
the  cross,  in  the  imposition  of  hands;  so  the  flesh 
feeds  on  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  that  the 
soul  may  fatten  upon  God.  They  are  united  in 
service,  they  cannot  be  separated  in  their  reward.  ^ 
Food  of  such  mysterious  efficacy  must  be  guarded 

^Adv.  Hccr.,  V,  ii,  2.  'Ibid.,  V,  ii,  3. 

3  On  the  Resurrection  of  the  Flesh,  viii. 


Sacraments  as  Means  of  Salvation  279 

with  the  utmost  care.  No  fly  must  pollute  the 
cup,  no  crumb  fall  on  the  ground.  A  little  later 
stories  will  begin  to  circulate  of  its  saving  power 
to  blot  out  transgressions  and  bring  the  sinner  back 
to  the  fold  of  Christ. ' 

There  was  another  aspect  of  the  idea  of  com- 
munion which  deeply  moved  the  early  Christian 
imagination,  and  passed  into  the  cognate  idea  of 
sacrifice.  The  Apostle  Paul  had  told  his  converts 
at  Corinth  that  by  sharing  one  loaf  they  all  became 
one,  a  mystic  unity  was  created  among  them,  they 
were  one  loaf,  one  body.  ^  But  of  what  was  a  loaf 
made  ?  The  corn  that  supplied  the  baker  with  his 
flour  might  have  grown  in  distant  lands ;  how  many 
grains  must  have  been  united  to  form  one  loaf! 
It  was  an  emblem  of  a  spiritual  unity  one  day 
to  be  realized  by  the  whole  body  of  believers.  The 
eschatological  significance  attached  to  the  memo- 
rial rite  when  it  was  designed  to  "show  forth  the 
Lord's  death  till  he  come"  thus  underwent  a  com- 
plete transformation.  The  Teaching  of  the  Twelve 
Apostles  repeats  the  prayer  Mardn  athd,  "Our 
Lord,  come!"  When  the  Agape  was  finished 
the  congregation  prayed: 

Remember,  Lord,  thy  Church  to  deliver  it  from  all 
evil  and  to  perfect  it  in  thy  love,  and  gather  it  together 
duly  hallowed  from  the  four  winds  into  thy  kingdom 

'  See  the  case  of  the  aged  Serapion  related  bj'  Bishop  Dionysius 
of  Alexandria  in  the  letter  quoted  by  Euscbius,  IlisL  Ecd.  VI, 
xliv. 

'I  Cor.  X,  17. 


28o       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

which  thou  hast  prepared  for  it;  for  thine  is  the  power 
and  the  glory  for  ever. 

And  over  the  broken  bread  this  petition  followed : 

As  this  broken  bread  was  scattered  upon  the 
mountains,  and,  being  brought  together,  became  one, 
so  let  thy  Church  be  brought  together  from  the  ends 
of  the  earth  into  thy  kingdom,  for  thine  is  the  glory 
and  the  power  though  Jesus  Christ  for  ever. 

Cyprian  apphes  the  same  figure  to  the  cup,  in  a 
wandering  argument  directed  against  the  temper- 
ance practice  of  a  water-Eucharist,  starting  from 
the  example  of  Noah  who  is  strangely  cited — 
drunkenness  and  all — as  expressing  the  figure 
of  the  passion  of  the  Lord."  The  miracle  at 
Cana  showed  that  at  the  marriage  of  Christ  and 
the  Church,  as  the  Jews  failed,  the  peoples  of  the 
Gentiles  should  flow  together,  for  water  was  the 
Apocalyptic  emblem  of  the  nations.^  So  when 
water  was  mingled  in  the  cup  with  wine  the 
congregation  of  believers  was  joined  with  the 
object  of  their  faith;  just  as  in  the  bread  many 
grains  are  collected,  ground,  and  mixed  to  make 
one  loaf,  and  the  people  are  thus  made  one  in 
Christ.  3     This  sentiment  of  union  deeply  affected 

^Ep.  Ixiii,  3.,  cp.  11;  ed.  Hartel,  ii,  p.  702. 

^  Ibid.,  12;  Rev.  xvii,  15. 

3  Ibid.,  13.  The  argument  halts  a  little,  for,  as  Cyprian  re- 
marks, bread  cannot  be  made  without  water,  and  the  plea  that  in 
the  cup  without  wine  the  people  would  have  no  union  with  Christ 
suggests  that  in  the  loaf  (where  the  water  symbolizes  the  people) 
the  grain  ought  to  represent  Christ! 


Sacraments  as  Means  of  Salvation  281 

the  later  language  of  devotion.  The  figure  may  be 
traced  through  Hturgy  after  Hturgy,  and  even 
found  its  way  into  England  under  the  auspices  of 
the  Sovereign  who  was  proud  to  call  himself  Defen- 
sor Fidei,  Defender  of  the  Faith. ' 

One  further  element  enters  at  an  early  date 
into  the  Eucharistic  commemoration,  destined  to 
effect  a  profound  change  in  the  whole  conception  of 
the  Christian  Church.  The  traditional  worship 
of  Israel,  like  that  of  all  the  nations  amid  which  the 
new  faith  made  its  way,  was  founded  upon  rituals 
of  sacrifice.  These  covered  various  ideas,  from 
simple  gifts  of  homage  or  thanksgiving  to  elaborate 
ceremonies  of  purification,  propitiation,  and  atone- 

'  Cp.  Apostolical  Constilutions,  vii,  25.  In  the  prayer  ascribed 
to  Serapion,  bishop  of  Thmuis  in  the  Delta,  about  350  a.d.  {Tcxie 
und  Untersuch.,  N.F.,  ii,  1899,  Heft  3b,  p.  5,  i,  25  flf.),  the  eschato- 
logieal  reference  is  dropped,  and  the  scattered  people  arc  to  be 
made  into  "one  living  CathoUc  Church."  It  may  be  noted 
that  the  prayer  entreats  the  sojourn  of  the  Logos  on  the  bread 
that  the  bread  may  become  the  body  of  the  Logos  and  the  cup 
the  blood  of  the  Truth.  The  bread  is  thus  only  the  "  likeness ' '  of 
the  body  of  the  Only-begotten.  The  influence  of  Origen  seems 
traceable  here;  "the  bread  which  God  the  Word  declared  to  be 
his  body  is  the  Word  that  nourishes  souls, "  In  Matth.,  scr.  85,  cd. 
Lommatsch,  iv,  416.  Origen  applies  the  same  interpretation  to 
the  "daily  bread"  in  the  Lord's  Prayer,  cp.  De  C>m<.,§9,ed.  Koet- 
schau,  vol.  ii,  1899.  The  iiriov(noz  &pros  in  which  we  particijiate 
by  the  Word  and  the  Eucharist  brings  health  and  strength  to  the 
soul  and  imparts  to  the  eater  of  its  own  immortality  (p.  369),  so 
that  he  becomes  a  son  of  God  (p.  170).  For  Henry  VIII,  see 
the  Ten  Articles  of  1536  (quoted  by  Dr.  J.  E.  Odgcrs,  The  Teach- 
ing, etc.,  for  English  Readers,  1906),  "that  all  Christian  men  be 
one  Body  mystical  of  Christ,  as  the  bread  is  made  of  many 
grains,  and  yet  but  one  loaf." 


282       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

ment.     When  Clement  pleads  with  the  disturbers 
at  Corinth  on  behalf  of  the  displaced  presbyters,  he 
reminds  them  of  God's  commands  that  offerings 
should  be  made  at  fixed  times  and  places,  as  part 
of  a  divine  order  of  worship,  and  declares  that  as  it 
is  part  of  the  duty  of  the  episcope'  to  offer  the  gifts, 
it  is  no  small  sin  to  eject  from  office  those  who 
have  done  so  blamelessly.^     There  are  already, 
therefore,  offerings  to  be  presented,  and  persons 
designated  for  the  service.     For  the  communities 
addressed  in  the  Teaching  of  the  Twelve  Apostles, 
the  Eucharist  is  already  identified  with  the  "pure 
sacrifice"  which  Malachi  had  declared  the  Lord 
had  promised   to   accept  not  only  in  Jerusalem 
but  in  every  place.  ^     So  natural  was  it  to  use  the 
language    of    temple-ceremonial    that    Polycarp 
could   urge    the   widows   of    PhiHppi    to   behave 
discreetly  knowing  that  they  were  God's  altar, 
where  everything  was  open  to  his  view,  and  none 
of   the   heart's    secrets   could   escape   his   gaze.^ 
Prayer  was  one  of  the  Christian  sacrifices,  and 
one  of  the  widows'  duties  was  to  be  frequent  and 
earnest   in   it;   moreover   they   were   maintained 
out  of  the  alms  of  the  faithful,  laid  on  the  table 
before  the  "president"  among  the  offerings  in  the 
weekly  worship.     Justin  emphatically  vindicates 
the  priesthood  of  all  Christians;  but  he  affirms  at 

'The  function  of  supervision,  and  so  (personally)  the  super- 
visors.    Cp.  Lect.  Ill,  p.  172. 

="  I  Clem,  xl,  2,  xliv,  4.  ^DidacU,  xiv,  3;  Mai.  i,  11. 

*Ad  Philipp.  iv,  3. 


Sacraments  as  Means  of  Salvation  283 

the  same  time  that  God  only  receives  sacrifices 
through  his  priests,  and  the  Eucharistic  bread  and 
wine,  with  the  associated  prayers  and  thanksgivings 
offered  by  Christians  throughout  the  world,  are  at 
once  true  sacrifices  which  by  their  wide  diffusion 
are  obviously  well  pleasing  to  him. '  The  memorial 
aspect  of  the  celebration  is  carefully  maintained, 
and  with  it  is  associated  the  twofold  ground 
of  thanksgiving  for  our  original  creation  and  our 
subsequent  deliverance  from  evil.  There  is  no 
hint  of  any  propitiatory  character  in  the  offering. 
But  some  one  must  utter  the  words  which  endowed 
the  simple  food  with  the  power  to  impart  or  to 
sustain  the  gift  of  immortality.  So  great  a 
treasure  could  not  be  left  to  casual  use,  or  placed 
in  irresponsible  hands.  The  insistence  of  Ignatius 
that  no  Eucharist  was  valid  unless  celebrated  by  a 
bishop  or  some  person  designated  by  him^  points 
to  the  growing  sense  that  safeguards  must  be 
erected  to  keep  the  offering  pure. 

Irenaeus  is  too  good  a  traditionalist  to  discard 
the  application  of  IMalachi's  prophecy.  The 
Eucharist  is  a  real  offering  to  God  by  which  the 
worshipper  presents  the  homage  of  his  honour  and 
affection  to  his  King;  it  is  a  gift  of  gratitude 
which  a  pure  conscience  hallows,  so  that  God  is 
moved  to  accept  it  as  from  a  friend.  Thankful 
to  our  Maker  we  needs  must  be,  in  faith  without 
hypocrisy,  in  sure  hope,  in  fervent  love.-*     The 

^Dialogue,  cxvi-cxvii.  ^Smyrn.  viii,  1-2. 

^Adv.  Uaer.,  I\\  xvii,  5;  xviii,  1-4. 


284       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

believer's  mind  is  occupied,  however,  with  the 
future  rather  than  the  past.  He  does  not  look 
back  to  the  cross  but  forwards  to  the  life  of  his 
risen  Lord.  He  is  not  concerned  with  a  redemption 
already  accomplished  but  with  an  immortality  to 
be  attained.  He  has  been  started  on  the  path  of 
eternity ;  what  is  significant  is  not  by  what  process 
he  was  first  set  there,  but  by  what  means  his 
advance  may  be  assured.  The  commemoration  of 
death  fades  away  in  the  transcendent  hope  of 
becoming  divine.  The  incarnation  rather  than 
the  atonement  is  the  centre  of  the  teaching  of 
Irenasus,  and  its  extension  through  all  ranks  of 
the  faithful  is  the  aim  of  the  Church.  Baptism 
and  the  Eucharist  thus  become  sacraments  for 
Tertullian,^  and  they  are  part  of  the  functions 
or  duty  of  a  priesthood.^  These  terms  become 
common  from  the  beginning  of  the  third  century. 
They  reach  their  completest  recognition  under 
Cyprian  of  Carthage,  fifty  years  later.  Latin 
theology  did  not  concern  itself  with  the  process  of 
becoming  Theos,  so  dear  to  Hellenic  thought.  It 
was  more  occupied  in  the  sphere  of  salvation  with 
the  conceptions  of  sin  and  satisfaction.  From  the 
days  of  the  Flood  all  history  converged  upon 
the  Passion,  and  to  that  the  Christian's  sacrifice 

^  Adv.  Marcion,  IV,  xxxiv. 

^  Sacerdotalia  munera,  sacerdotale  officium,  sacerdolalis  ordo. 
Cp.  Achelis,  Christentiim  in  den  ersten  drei  Jahrhunderten,  ii, 
p.  16.  In  Tertullian's  time,  also,  the  Eucharist  was  already 
celebrated  on  the  "birthdays"  of  the  dead,  De  Corona,  iii,  Exhort. 
Caslitatis,  xi. 


Sacraments  as  Means  of  Salvation  285 

must  correspond.'  The  language  of  episcopal 
letters  is  not  that  of  theologians  framing  dog- 
matic definitions;  but  in  his  emphasis  on  the 
Passion  of  Christ  as  "the  sacrifice  which  we 
offer"  Cyprian  seems  to  leave  the  barer  idea 
of  commemoration  a  good  way  behind.^  Christ, 
he  urges,  "our  Lord  and  God,  "  is  himself  the  chief 
priest  of  the  Father,  and  first  offered  himself 
to  him  as  a  sacrifice.  This  he  has  commanded 
to  be  done  in  commemoration  of  himself,  and  that 
priest  truly  discharges  the  office  of  Christ,  who 
imitates  what  Christ  did.  Then  only  does  he 
offer  a  true  and  full  sacrifice  to  the  Father  when 
he  strictly  follows  the  practice  of  Christ  himself.  ^ 
The  Eucharist  is  thus  on  the  way  to  become  a 
repetition  by  the  priest  of  the  actual  Passion  of 
Christ;  and  the  faithful  will  be  supported  on 
their  path  of  difficulty  and  danger  by  the  mystic 
renewal  from  time  to  time  of  their  Lord's  redeem- 
ing death.  Of  this  the  Church  will  become  the 
guarantee.  Around  its  members  it  will  fling 
an  invisible  sanctity.  But  what  if  they  are 
unfaithful  to  their  baptismal  vow,  and  fail  to 
keep  their  "seal"  undefilcd?  When  enthusiasm 
flags,  and  loyalty  is  strained  to  the  utmost,  when 
worldliness  corrodes  the  purity  of  first  intentions 
and  sudden  peril  tries  the  stoutest  heart,  what 
happens  to  those  who  have  set  out  to  become  divine? 
Is  the  gift  of  immortality  withdrawn?  Can 
salvation,  once  conferred,  be  lost?     The  time  was 

'Cypr.,  Ep.  Ixiii,  9.  'Ibid.,  17.  i Ibid.,  14. 


286       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

shortly  to  arrive  when  these  questions  would 
become  urgent.  For  new  evils  new  remedies 
must  be  devised.  The  Church  would  cease  to 
be  an  assembly  of  saints  marching  side  by  side  to 
reach  eternity.  It  would  be  a  Noah's  ark  where 
the  clean  would  be  mingled  with  the  unclean.  The 
sinner  should  not,  indeed,  be  denied  all  hope. 
A  discipline  of  penance  should  be  organized  which 
should  become  another  sacrament;  the  power  to 
remit  or  to  retain  sins  should  at  length  be  vested 
in  a  consecrated  order;  and  the  most  powerful 
priesthood  which  the  world  has  ever  seen  should 
day  by  day  reproduce  all  round  the  earth  the 
awful  sacrifice  of  Calvary  without  its  blood,  and 
claim  to  keep  the  keys  of  heaven  and  hell. 


LECTURE   V 

SALVATION   BY   GNOSIS 

IF  the  Law  was  a  tutor  to  bring  the  Jews  to  Christ, 
Philosophy,  said  Clement  of  Alexandria,  per- 
formed the  same  function  for  the  Greeks.'  In 
the  deepening  of  the  religious  life  of  the  Roman 
Empire  which  marked  the  second  century  of  our 
era,  philosophy  was  assuredly  not  without  its 
share.  Cities  like  Athens  and  Alexandria  had 
long  been  the  seats  of  teaching  analogous  to  that 
of  the  mediceval  Universities.  At  Rome  the 
Emperor  Hadrian  established  public  chairs  for 
philosophy,  and  Antoninus  Pius,  extending  the 
arrangement  to  the  provinces,  exempted  the 
lecturers  from  taxation.  Four  schools,  Platonic, 
Peripatetic,  Stoic,  and  Epicurean,  were  endowed 
at  Athens  by  Marcus  Aurelius,  each  having  two 
professors,  with  a  yearly  salary  of  10,000  drach- 
mas apiece. ^  The  election  was  vested  in  the  "best 
and  oldest  and  wisest"  of  the  citizens.  Through 
what  body  the  choice  was  made  is  uncertain; 
possibly  the  members  of  the  faculty  were  associated 
with  a  special  board  for  the  purpose;  and  the  im- 

*  Stromata,  I,  v,  §  28,  3  (ed.  Stahlin). 
»  Zeller,  A  History  of  Eclecticism  (1883),  p.  191  f. 
287 


288       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

perial  consent  may  have  been  needed  for  ratifica- 
tion. Honours  and  emoluments  fell  freely  to  the 
teachers'  lot.  They  might  openly  attack  the 
popular  religion,  complains  Tertullian,  and  de- 
nounce its  superstitions,  but  who  compelled  them 
to  sacrifice  to  the  Emperor?  For  the  Christians 
who  equally  taught  innocence  and  justice,  patience, 
sobriety,  chastity,  there  was  the  sword  or  the 
wild  beast;  for  the  philosophers,  statues  and 
salaries.  ^ 

Among  these  various  schools  the  Platonists  had 
naturally  most  affinity  with  Christian  thought. 
The  disciples  of  Aristotle  were  chiefly  occupied 
with  learned  literary  activity;  they  produced 
elaborate  commentaries  on  their  master's  writings; 
they  did  not  influence  spiritual  religion.  The 
day  when  the  philosophy  of  the  Stagirite  would 
provide  an  intellectual  form  for  Christian  theology 
would  not  arrive  for  a  thousand  years.  Many 
Church-writers  felt  the  influence  of  the  Stoic 
ethics,  though  they  repudiated  the  conception  of 
Heimarmene  or  Fate,  and  could  find  nothing  in 
cosmic  pantheism  equivalent  to  the  Gospel  mes- 
sage of  the  "Father  who  is  in  heaven."  Even 
Tertullian,  who  angrily  asked  what  Athens  and 
Jerusalem  had  to  do  with  each  other,  found  sup- 
port for  his  rigorism  in  Seneca.  With  the  Epi- 
cureans and  their  faineant  gods  the  followers  of 
Jesus  could  have  no  sympathy;  the  sceptics,  and 
the  vulgar  materialism  into  which  the  popular 

'  Apologeticus,  xlvi. 


Salvation  by  Gnosis  289 

mind  translated  their  teaching,  were  odious  to 
them.  In  Platonism,  however,  especially  in  its 
partial  alliance  with  the  revival  of  Pythagorean- 
ism,  the  higher  minds  saw  much  that  was  akin  to 
their  own  thought  and  feeling;  and  when  the 
Fourth  Evangelist  introduced  the  person  of  the 
Son  of  God  under  the  form  of  the  Hellenic  con- 
ception of  the  Logos,  a  definite  alliance  was  es- 
tablished which  brought  Greek  thought  into  the 
closest  connection  with  Christian  life/ 

The  Johannine  contrast  between  "earthly"  and 
"heavenly"  things,  like  that  of  the  Apostle  Paul 
(in  another  connection)  between  the  things  of  time 
and  sense  and  the  invisible  and  enduring,  can  be 
traced  ultimately  to  Platonic  idealism.  Plato 
had  himself,  of  course,  a  strong  sympathy  with 
many  elements  in  Pythagorean  teaching;  and  his 
splendid  genius  absorbed  so  much  of  the  elder 
master's  thought  and  presented  it  in  such  new  and 
captivating  forms,  that  Pythagoreanism  as  a 
philosophy  was  unable  to  hold  its  own,  though 
communities  which  practised  the  discipline  con- 
tinued to  maintain  their  observance.  But  in  the 
first  century  before  our  era  a  revival  took  place. 
Biographies  of  the  Founder  were  written,  in  which 
he  was  presented  as  half  divine.  Religious  con- 
ceptions of  revelation  and  authority  gathered 
round  him.  Pious  followers  ascribed  to  him  what 
they  had  learned  from  Plato,  Aristotle,  or  Zeno, 
and  a  flourishing  literature  sprang  up  in  the  second 

'  Cp.  Lcct.  II,  p.  85. 

19 


290       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

half  of  the  first  century  of  our  era."  It  was  a  time 
when  sharp  divisions  were  being  broken  down; 
and  schools  which  cherished  common  ideas  about 
human  destiny  were  drawn  together.  The  new 
Pythagoreans  Platonized;  and  the  Platonists 
Pythagorized.  Characteristic  modes  of  thought 
influenced  each  other,  and  reason  and  imagination 
sought  in  numbers  and  their  relations,  or  in 
symbols  and  half -concrete  forms,  to  express  differ- 
ent aspects  of  spiritual  reahty.  To  concihate 
these  with  traditional  religion  became  one  of  the 
tasks  of  the  philosophic  theologian.  The  unity 
of  the  world  demanded  a  single  Cause.  Behind 
all  experience  of  change  and  succession  must  lie 
permanences  of  Being  which  no  decay  could  touch. 
Through  vicissitudes  of  life  and  death,  of  happiness 
or  pain,  it  must  be  possible  to  reach  a  Mind  that 
comprehended  all,  and  dwelt  serenely  above 
mortal  woes,  the  Absolutely  Good.  How  was 
such  a  conception  to  be  harmonized  with  the 
temple-ritual  of  the  Gods  of  Greece? 

While  Christianity  was  being  launched  into  the 
Empire,  Plutarch,  the  gentle  and  learned  priest 
of  Chaeronea,  was  wrestling  with  these  problems. 
Sprung  from  an  old  Boeotian  family  he  had  seen 
the  world,  like  many  another  young  man  of  parts. 
He  had  studied  at  Athens,  he  had  visited  Alexan- 
dria, he  had  travelled  in  Italy,  he  had  lectured  in 
Rome.     His  life  of  more  than  threescore  years  and 

'Cp.  Hans  von  Arnim,  Allgemeine  Gesch.  der  Philos.  (1913, 
Die  Kullur  der  Gegcnwart,  Teil  I,  Abtheil.  v,),  p.  238  f. 


Salvation  by  Gnosis  291 

ten  (about  48-120  A.  d.)  covered  the  composition 
of  most  of  the  books  of  the  New  Testament,  and 
much  of  the  Hterature  of  the  post-apostoHc  age. 
When  he  retired  to  his  native  town  he  loved  to 
gather  friends  around  him,  or  meet  them  in  some 
pleasant  resort  near  famous  shrines,  or  by  the  sea, 
and  there  they  discoursed  of  high  themes  of  morals 
and  religion.  Beside  his  wonderful  gallery  of 
heroes  and  statesmen  he  sets  pictures  of  quiet 
talk  on  a  wide  range  of  topics  ethical  and  theo- 
logical. Literature,  history,  philosophy,  are  all 
laid  under  contribution.  He  has  been  described 
as  "the  greatest  Hellenist  of  his  day."'  His 
stores  of  learning,  his  family  affection,  his  deep 
attachment  to  the  ancient  usages  of  traditional 
piety,  shine  through  debate  or  discourse;  and  his 
admiration  for  what  was  highest  in  human  char- 
acter and  achievement  made  him  a  teacher  of 
righteousness  for  all  who  were  willing  to  take  on 
themselves  the  solemn  responsibilities  of  self- 
direction  towards  the  Good.  He  was,  indeed,  no 
prophet,  crying  "Thus  saith  the  Lord";  he  was 
for  his  own  day  the  helper  of  those  who  sought  to 
live  in  the  Spirit. 

Plutarch  was  profoundly  convinced  of  the  need 
of  religion.  It  came  to  him  enveloped  in  sacred 
custom.  As  priest  of  Apollo  he  loved  the  ritual 
which  centuries  had  hallowed;  he  believed  in  the 
divine  inspiration   claimed   for   the   oracles;   and 

'  Dill,  Roman  Society  from  Nero  to  Marcus  Aurelius  (1904),  p. 
405- 


292       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

though  he  recognized  that  there  might  be  aspects 
of  sacrifice  which  were  savage  and  unlovely,  he 
was  loyal  to  the  service  of  the  altar,  where  tradi- 
tion sanctified  ancient  practice  and  new  meanings 
sprang  up  in  old  ceremonies  under  "the  unimagin- 
able touch  of  Time."  Philosophy,  indeed,  might 
be  unable  to  justify  the  significance  of  many  a 
consecrated  act.  It  proclaimed  unhesitatingly 
that  God  was  One;  and  that  Unity  implied  that 
it  was  for  ever  unchangeably  the  same.  A  blank 
eternal  self -identity,  however,  was  no  object  of 
religious  trust.  It  must  needs  be  intelligent,  and 
cognizant  of  the  natural  disposition  of  every 
individual  man,  so  as  to  reward  the  good  and 
punish  the  evil.^  The  moral  government  of  the 
world  was  essential  to  Plutarch's  notion  of  the 
Deity.  God,  he  argued,  is  perfectly  good;  no 
virtue  is  wanting  in  him,  least  of  all  justice  and 
friendship,  which  most  become  the  divine  nature.^ 
On  the  one  hand  was  the  conception  of  the  Abso- 
lute, everlasting,  immutable;  on  the  other,  the 
faith  in  Providence,  the  sleepless  guardian  of  the 
right,  the  benevolent  administrator  of  all  sorts  of 
other  possible  worlds  as  well  as  this.  "What, 
then,  is  it  that  really  is?"^  asks  the  Athenian  pro- 
fessor, Ammonius,  in  a  discussion  at  Delphi  over 
the  famous  syllable  EI  inscribed  on  the  narrow 
entrance    of    the    Amphictyonic    Temple.     The 

■  See  the  remarkable  tract  De  Sera  Numinis  Vindicta,  xx. 

'  De  Defect.  Orac,  xxiv. 

i  TL  olv  ovTus  ov  iffTi;  De  EI  apud  Delphos,  xix. 


Salvation  by  Gnosis  293 

answer  is,  "That  which  is  eternal  and  iinbegottcn 
and  incorruptible,  to  which  time  can  bring  no 
change."  As  the  worshipper  entered  the  shrine, 
the  Deity  saluted  him  through  the  famous  text 
upon  the  wall,  " Know  thyself  " ;  "we  in  our  turn," 
says  Ammonius,  "answering  the  God,  say  EI, 
thou  art,  rendering  to  him  the  true  unfeigned  and 
sole  address  of  Existence  which  alone  befits  him 
Alone."'  God,  it  is  afterwards  laid  down,  abso- 
lutely is;  and  this  existence  has  no  reference  to 
time,  it  belongs  to  an  immovable  timeless  eternity, 
there  is  nothing  before  or  after  it.  With  the 
Unity  in  which  he  exists  now  he  has  filled  the 
Everlasting,  and  nothing  is  which  does  not  share 
this  reality  of  Being,  neither  what  was  originated, 
nor  what  shall  come  to  pass,  what  began  or  what 
shall  end.  ^  The  metaphysical  problem  is  to  connect 
this  changeless  Spirit  with  our  world  of  change; 
and  the  theological  to  find  the  relation  to  it  of  the 
gods  of  traditional  worship,  ancient  custom,  social 
law.  For  this  purpose  Plutarch  calls  in  the  help 
of  the  Daimons. 

These  were  not  the  hostile  and  degraded  agents 
of  evil  against  whose  mischievous  attacks  popular 
dcmonology  bid  man  be  for  ever  on  his  guard. 
In  the  discussion  in  the  Cnidian  Hall  at  Delphi 
on  the  decline  of  answers  from  the  Oracles,  the 
traveller  Cleombrotus  points  to  the  identification 
which  Homer  had  made  between  Gods  and  Dai- 
mons, and  the  place  which  Hcsiod  had  assigned 

I  De  EI,  xvii.  » Ibid.,  xx. 


294       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

them  between  Gods  and  men.  Clear  and  ancient 
witnesses,  he  declares,  will  prove  that  there  are 
natures  thus  midway  between  the  divine  and 
human,  subject  to  mortal  passions  and  necessary 
change,  and  in  accordance  with  the  custom  of  our 
fathers  we  rightly  name  them  Daimons  and  pay 
them  reverence. '  It  must  not  be  supposed,  there- 
fore, that  sacrifices  and  ceremonies  are  slighted  by 
the  gods,  nor  must  we  imagine  that  God  himself 
takes  part  in  them.  They  are  entrusted  to  the 
Daimons  as  his  ministers,  supervisors^  of  sacred 
rites  and  performers  of  mysteries,  while  others 
move  around  to  punish  pride  and  injustice.^  A 
complete  scheme  of  subordinate  instruments  of 
varying  might  and  character  is  thus  provided 
through  which  God  can  act  upon  the  world,  and 
the  whole  burden  of  mythology  and  cultus  is 
shifted  on  to  them.  For  God,  thus  released  from 
innumerable  odious  associations  and  projected 
into  immensity,  new  aspects  of  being  and  activity 
must  be  opened.  It  is  not  fitting  to  limit  his  good- 
ness to  the  scene  we  know;  his  boundless  justice 
and  affection  are  social  virtues,  he  does  not  exer- 
cise them  upon  himself;  it  is  not  likely  that  he  is 
without  friends  and  neighbours,  or  that  this 
universe  floats  alone  in  a  void  infinitude*  This 
multiplication  of  possibilities  enhances  the  con- 
ception of  the  greatness  of  Deity,  but  it  makes  no 
difference  to  his  metaphysical  relation  to  the  sphere 

'  De  Defect.  Orac,  x,  xii.  ^  "Bishops,"  cp.  ante,  p.  i68. 

3  Ibid.,  xiii.  "•  Ibid.,  xxiv. 


Salvation  by  Gnosis  295 

of  change.  Whether  there  be  one  world  or  many- 
is  of  no  consequence  to  the  difference  between  the 
Eternal  and  that  which  has  a  beginning  and  an 
end.  With  the  help  of  a  World-soul,  of  numbers 
and  harmony, '  and  the  powers  lodged  in  the  Dai- 
mons,  a  series  of  intermediate  agencies  is  estab- 
lished by  which  the  Unity  of  the  Absolute  can  for 
ever  uphold  the  ceaseless  process  of  cosmic  pro- 
duction and  decay. 

How,  then,  shall  this  Absolute  ever  be  reached 
by  human  thought?  What  direct  knowledge  of 
it  is  possible  to  man  ?  To  these  questions  Plutarch 
gives  no  clear  answer.  They  appear,  indeed,  to 
lie  beyond  his  range.  He  drops,  however,  some 
pregnant  hints  in  the  discussion  of  the  great 
myth  of  Isis  and  Osiris.  Study  and  travel  have 
convinced  him  that  there  is  a  fundamental  unity 
of  religious  experience.  Behind  varieties  of  name 
lie  real  identities  of  belief  and  worship.  There 
are  no  different  gods  among  Greeks  and  barbarians; 
they  are  the  same  as  sun  and  moon  are  the  same, 
or  land  and  sea.  One  Reason  arranges  these 
things,  and  one  Providence  administers  them; 
attendant  Powers  have  been  appointed  over  all, 
and  laws  prescribe  the  several  modes  in  which  they 
should  be  honoured  and  addressed.  The  use  of 
symbols  is  not  without  danger,  the  quagmire  of 
superstition  is  on  one  side,  the  precipice  of  atheism 
on  the  other.  In  the  sphere  of  rclii^ion,  pleads 
Plutarch,  we  should  accept  Reason   from   philo- 

■  Cp.  Dill,  Roman  Society,  etc.,  p.  419. 


296       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

sophy  as  our  Mystagogue.  ^  The  different  vest- 
ments of  Osiris  and  Isis  provide  him  with  a  pretty 
allegory.  ^  That  of  Osiris  has  neither  shadow  nor 
variety  of  colour;  it  is  simple,  one,  and  luminous. 
The  first  principle  is  uncompounded ;  what  is 
apprehended  by  thought  is  unmixed.  Once  used, 
they  lay  the  garment  by  and  preserve  it;  for  the 
object  of  thought  is  beyond  sight  and  touch. 
The  vestments  of  Isis  may  be  used  many  times. 
They  are  like  objects  of  sense,  which  we  employ 
and  handle,  and  in  their  several  changes  look  at 
in  many  ways.  But  the  apprehension  of  what 
only  thought  can  apprehend  ^ — what  is  sincere  and 
holy — flashes  like  lightning  through  the  soul;  to 
touch  and  gaze  upon  it  may  be  possible  but  once. 
Plato  and  Aristotle  called  this  the  "epoptic"  part 
of  philosophy,  as  though  it  were  reached  only  by 
the  highest  initiates  in  the  mystery;  who  by  the 
help  of  Reason  leap  up  to  what  is  primary  and 
simple  and  immaterial.  Thus  to  reach  pure 
Truth  is  to  attain  the  goal  of  Philosophy.  Yet 
how  are  we  hindered  from  arriving  there!  The 
souls  of  men  here  below,  Plutarch  laments,  encom- 
passed by  bodies  and  their  affections,  can  have  no 
communion  with  God,  save  as  they  may  appre- 
hend him  through  philosophy  as  in  a  dim  dream. 
But  when  they  are  released  and  have  passed  into 
the  sphere  of  the  unseen  and  invisible,  the  passion- 
less and  pure,  this  God  becomes  their  Guide  and 

'  De  Isid.  et  Osir.,  Ixvii,  Ixviii.  *  Ibid.,  Ixxviii. 

3  'H  5^  ToO  voriTov  vb-qffLS, 


Salvation  by  Gnosis  297 

King;  they  hang  upon  him,  gazing  and  longing 
still  unsatisfied  after  the  beauty  which  no  mortal 
tongue  can  utter.'  The  philosopher  no  longer 
reasons,  he  sees.  The  transient  and  obscure 
moments  of  earthly  illumination  are  converted  into 
the  open  vision  of  heaven. 

Two  generations  before  Plutarch  Philo  had 
wrestled  with  similar  problems  at  Alexandria  from 
the  Jewish  side.^  But  his  task  was  in  some  re- 
spects more  difficult.  Like  Plutarch  he  belonged 
to  a  priestly  family,  but  unlike  the  Greek  teacher 
he  found  his  religion  authoritatively  embodied  in 
a  book.  Hellenic  piety  had  a  long  tradition  be- 
hind it,  but  it  had  produced  no  Scripture.  The 
faith  and  worship  of  Israel  rested  upon  Revelation. 
It  must,  therefore,  be  an  epitome  of  truth  so  far 
as  it  could  be  expressed  in  human  speech.  All 
other  truth,  accordingly'',  must  be  harmonized 
with  it,  and  the  teachings  of  philosophy  could  be 
confirmed  out  of  the  INIosaic  Law.  For  three 
hundred  years  the  Jews  at  Alexandria  had  been 
confronted  on  one  side  with  the  ancient  wisdom 
of  Egypt,  on  the  other  with  the  representatives  of 
the  schools  of  Greece.  They  had  translated  their 
sacred  books  into  the  common  tongue  of  the  East- 
em  Mediterranean;  their  historians  sought  to 
remove  the  reproach  that  their  people  had  rendered 
no  services  to  learning ;  they  identified  jMoses  with 

*  De  Isid.  el  Osir.,  Ixxviii,  Ixxix. 

*  The  limits  of  his  career  are  not  known  exactly,  but  he  speaks 
of  himself  as  an  old  man  in  the  year  40  A.  D. 


298       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

the  legendary  figure  of  Musseus,  and  derived 
Hellenic  wisdom  from  the  Hebrew  legislator/ 
Philo  had  been  brought  up  under  the  twofold 
influences  of  the  Synagogue  and  the  Museum. 
He  had  passed  through  the  usual  course  of  encyc- 
lical education;  he  had  heard  lectures  in  the 
schools;  he  had  paid  his  devotions  at  Jerusalem. 
He  sought  to  interpret  Greek  culture  to  his  own 
people,  and  to  commend  his  national  scriptures  to 
the  trained  Hellenic  intelHgence.  For  him  the 
Pythagoreans  constituted  a  "most  sacred  band"; 
Empedocles,  Parmenides,  and  Xenophanes  were 
little  short  of  divine;  with  Zeno  and  Cleanthes 
they  made  a  holy  assembly ;  Plato  is  above  all  "the 
great.  "^ 

With  the  allegorical  method  by  which  Philo 
sought  to  accomplish  his  aim  we  are  not  here  con- 
cerned. It  was  not  his  invention;  it  had  been 
practised  before  him,  and  it  was  freely  applied  by 
the  interpreters  of  Homer  no  less  than  by  the 
expounders  of  Genesis.  Largely  through  his 
writings  it  passed  into  the  Church,  and  was  des- 
tined to  have  a  profound  influence  on  Christian 
theology.  It  enabled  Philo  to  extract  Platonism 
from  the  Pentateuch,  and  to  present  the  patri- 
arch Abraham  as  a  representative  of  the  "divine 
Logos.  "^     The  lack  of  definite  principles  in  his 

'  Cp.  Eupolemos  and  Artapanos  in  Euseb.,  Praep,  Evang.,  IX, 
xxvi,  xxvii. 

'  See  the  passages  quoted  by  Edersheim,  Diet.  Christ.  Biog., 
iv,  p.  374;  or  Schiirer,  Cesch.  des  Jiid.  Volkes^,  iii,,  p.  544. 

3  Legum  Alleg.,  iii,  218,  ed.  Cohn,  i,  p.  161. 


Salvation  by  Gnosis  299 

treatment  of  Scripture  finds  a  counterpart  in  the 
loose  structure  of  his  philosophy,  where  the  doc- 
trines of  different  systems  sometimes  jostle  each 
other,  and  incongruities  of  thought  are  ignored. 
But  the  lofty  elevation  of  his  spirit  triumphs  over 
gaps  of  construction.  His  ethical  enthusiasm 
never  flags.  At  times  he  reaches  the  vision  of  the 
mystic,  and  argument  is  lost  in  contemplation. 
The  two-fold  aim  of  Hellenistic  piety  is  ever  before 
him,  the  yearning  for  knowledge  of  God  {gnosis) f 
and  the  desire  of  incorruption. ' 

Using  the  language  of  Elea,  Philo  designates 
God  as  T6  6v,  "the  Existent."*  Like  Plutarch 
he  conceives  the  nature  of  Deity  as  simple,  un- 
compounded,  unmingled  with  aught  else.  Behind 
all  time  and  number  he  abides  in  unity,  ^  immutable, 
imperishable,  incapable  of  being  reckoned  in  any 
class,  for  that  would  imply  the  possession  of 
qualities  in  which  others  share,  and  would  con- 
sequently impair  his  uniqueness.''  To  demon- 
strate his  existence  the  argument  from  causality 
may  suffice.  But  what  his  essential  nature  is 
must  remain  unknown  to  man  who  cannot  even 
tell  what  he  is  himself.  Contrasted  with  the  world 
of  our  experience  he  dwells  unconfined  by  space, 
unchanged  by  the  succession  of  created  things, 

'  Cp.  Hans  Windisch,  Die  Frommigkeit  Philos  (1909),  4. 

'  See  references  in  Br^hier,  Les  Idees  Philosophiques  et  Religieuses 
de  Philo  (1908),  p.  70  flf. 

'  The  formula  is  hardly  translatable,  Kari,  rh  if  Kal  Trjv  fwviSa, 
Leg.  Alleg.,  ii,  3. 

<  Cp.  Drummond,  Philo  Judaus  (1888),  ii,  p.  25. 


300       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

yet  he  is  Maker  and  Father  of  the  universe.  Be- 
tween this  lofty  abstraction  and  the  plurahty  to 
which  our  senses  testify,  what  Hnks  of  connection 
can  be  found?  The  answer  is  suppHed  by  the 
doctrine  of  the  Logos  and  the  Powers  ranged 
beneath.  The  Logos  is  pure  Reason  (voOc);  he  is 
Son  of  God,  even  a  second  God;  he  is  the  image  of 
God,  and  the  Idea  of  ideas ;  but  how  he  comes  into 
being,  streaming  forth  from  the  primeval  Light, 
and  is  invested  with  operative  force,  is  not  dis- 
closed. He  stands  at  the  head  of  a  group  of 
Powers,  six  altogether  in  number,  allegorically 
connected  with  the  Pentateuchal  institution  of 
six  Cities  of  Refuge.'  Next  to  the  Logos  come 
the  Creative  and  the  Regal  energies ;  the  Propitious 
follows,  by  which  the  Artificer  compassionates 
his  own  work;  and  lowest  in  the  descending  scale 
are  the  Legislative  pair  concerned  with  Precept 
and  Prohibition.  The  group,  whose  procession 
from  the  fount  of  Being  is  nowhere  described,  bears 
some  resemblance  to  the  emanations  which  figure 
in  the  genealogies  of  the  Gnostic  ^ons.  Last  and 
most  numerous  of  all  are  the  types  or  ideas  of 
classes  or  genera  in  the  material  world;  they,  too, 
suddenly  appear  endowed  with  active  efficacy; 
in  Scripture  language  they  may  be  identified  with 
the  Angels.  But  how  intellectual  conceptions 
become  dynamic  agencies  Philo  does  not  seem 
to  have  enquired.  He  draws  the  constituents 
of  his   philosophical  fabric  from  various  sources, 

'^  See  the  exposition  of  Dr.  Drummond,  Philo,  ii,  p.  83. 


Salvation  by  Gnosis  301 

and  it  is  not  surprising  that  they  do  not  always 
fit. 

Between  heaven  and  earth  the  air  is  full  of  in- 
corporeal souls.  Some  of  them  are  of  exalted 
rank,  and  can  be  employed  as  the  Creator's 
ministers  in  human  affairs.  Others  descend  into 
human  bodies/  and  in  the  whirlpool  of  sense- 
experience  are  swallowed  down  and  engulfed. 
Others  succeed  in  swimming  on  the  top,  and  at 
length  fly  back  into  the  upper  realm.  They  have 
learned  the  secret  of  philosophy,  they  have  prac- 
tised the  life  of  dying  to  the  body  that  they  may 
obtain  the  life  which  is  incorporeal  and  incorrupti- 
ble in  the  presence  of  the  Uncreate  and  Eternal. 
That  is  the  goal  of  human  endeavour.  Had  not 
Plato  taught  that  "we  ought  to  fly  away  from 
earth  to  heaven  as  quickly  as  we  can;  and  to 
fly  away  is  to  become  like  God,  as  far  as  this  is 
possible;  and  to  become  like  him  is  to  become  holy, 
just,  and  wise.  "  ^  For  this  end,  indeed,  God  deigns 
himself  to  come  to  our  aid.  He  visits  mankind  in 
his  goodness,  and  what  dwelling  can  be  prepared 
for  him?  Though  the  whole  earth  were  gold,  it 
were  no  proper  resting-place  for  his  feet,  but  a 
fitting  soul  is  a  worthy  house.  It  must,  indeed, 
be  suitably  arranged.  The  foundations  must  be 
laid  in  right  disposition  and  teaching,  the  edifice 
of  the  virtues  must  be  reared  with  noble  deeds, 

'  De  Gigant.,  12  ff.  (cd.  Wendland,  ii,  p.  44). 
»  Thecctet.,  176,  tr.  Jowctt,  iv,  p.  235.     Pliilo,  De  Fuga,  63  (cd. 
Wendland,  iii,  p.  123). 


302       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

for  additional  ornaments  it  must  receive  the  dis- 
cipline of  university  education,  and  then  the 
Powers  of  God  will  descend.  To  a  soul  thus  made 
ready  they  will  bring  laws  and  ordinances  from 
heaven  to  hallow  and  consecrate  it  with  the 
encouragement  of  their  Father/  What  house, 
exclaims  the  devout  philosopher,  can  be  more 
fitting  for  God  than  a  soul  perfectly  purified,  and 
deeming  the  Beautiful  alone  the  Good?^ 

But  if  God  deigns  through  his  Powers  to  descend 
to  man  and  make  his  abode  in  the  lowly  soul,  can 
man  in  his  turn  ascend  towards  God  and  rise 
into  direct  communion  with  him?  Like  a  good 
Platonist  Philo  endows  the  soul  with  wings,  and 
describes  the  vision  that  breaks  upon  her  in  her 
upward  flight.  When  a  man  loves  God  his  soul 
springs  upward  towards  truth  from  earth  to  heaven 
and  traverses  the  air  on  wings,  eager  to  join  the 
dance  with  sun  and  moon  and  the  most  holy  band 
of  the  stars  in  harmony,  where  God  is  king  alone 
and  unopposed,  with  just  sovereignty  over  each 
and  all.  3  It  is,  then,  possible  for  the  contempla- 
tive mind  with  the  help  not  of  sense  but  reason  to 
reach  a  fellowship  with  divine  things,  and  pass 
from  outward  sight  to  what  is  incorporeal  and 
known  by  thought.  Of  the  high  virtue  needful 
for  this  vision  Abraham  was  the  type.  The 
reward  of  such  approach  to  truth  was  faith;  its 

» Philo,  De  Cherub.,  29-31  (ed.  Cohn,  i,  p.  194). 
'  De  Sohriet.,  62  (ed.  Wendland,  ii,  p.  227). 
J  De  Spec.  Leg.,  i,  207  (ed.  Cohn,  v,  p.  50). 


Salvation  by  Gnosis  303 

prize  was  joy;  the  crown  of  tireless  toil  was  the 
vision  of  God.  For  what  can  be  more  gainful  or 
worshipful  than  to  believe  in  God,  to  rejoice  ever- 
more, and  unceasingly  behold  real  Being  {-:>>  ov)/ 
If  the  eyes  of  the  body  can  reach  the  topmost 
heights  of  the  sky,  how  vast  a  course  must  be  open 
to  the  eyes  of  the  soul,  when,  yearning  to  gaze 
clearly  on  "What  Is,"  they  not  only  mount  on 
wings  to  the  furthest  ether,  but  even  pass  the 
boundaries  of  the  world  in  haste  to  reach  the 
Uncreate.^ 

There  is,  then,  for  the  pure  spirit  an  immediate 
knowledge  of  God.  The  common  mind  may  re- 
spond to  the  Stoic  arguments  founded  on  the 
intelligence  revealed  in  the  great  world-city,  the 
harmonies  of  earth  and  air  and  sea,  the  successions 
of  day  and  night,  the  regularity  of  the  seasons,  the 
order  of  the  stars.  ^  But  there  is  a  higher  kind  of 
direct  evidence.  "See  that  I  am  he,"  it  is  said  in 
the  character  of  God  in  the  great  Song  {Dent. 
xxxii.  39),  for  Real  Being  (to  ovTwq  ov)  is  ap- 
prehended by  clear  insight  (evapysta)  rather  than 
by  reasoning.  •*  True,  this  does  not  pierce  to  the 
ultimate  secret  of  God's  essence.  The  Absolute 
alone  can  understand  himself.  But  it  does  bring 
the  human  spirit  into  such  close  relation  to  the 
Divine  that  man  can  become  theo-phoros,  a  verit- 

I  De  Pram,  et  Poen.,  26  f.  (ed.  Cohn,  v,  p.  341). 
»  De  Plantat.,  22  (ed.  Wcndland,  ii,  p.  138). 
3  Cp.  Dc  Monarch.  I,  cap.  vi. 
<  Dc  Poster.  Cain.,  167  (cd.  Wendland,  ii,  p.  37). 


304       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

able  "bearer"  of  God,  for  the  Ruler  of  the  iini verse 
deigns  himself  alone  and  unseen  to  company 
with  minds  that  have  reached  the  highest  purity : 
was  it  not  promised,  "I  will  walk  among  you  and 
will  be  your  God"  {Lev.  xxvi,  12)?'  For  such 
souls,  who  offer  their  reason  as  a  sacred  cup,  the 
Ruler  of  the  feast,  the  Logos,  the  cupbearer  of  God, 
pours  forth  deep  draughts  of  joy.^  This  is  the 
path  to  freedom  and  to  peace,  for  the  true  City 
of  God,  Jerusalem,  "the  vision  of  peace,"  lies  in 
the  soul  wherein  God  makes  his  home.^  Lifted 
above  the  strife  of  the  world,  and  aiming  at  like- 
ness to  God  who  is  raised  above  all  need  and 
perfectly  suffices  for  himself,''  he  quits  the  sphere 
of  corruption  and  necessity;  he  wins  the  unchang- 
ing mind  which  draws  nigh  to  the  power  of  God, 
he  approaches  the  steadfastness  of  the  Eternal,  ^ 
he  enters  on  life  and  immortality.  ^ 

Such  were  the  possibilities  of  salvation  by  philo- 
sophy. Philo  was  destined  to  be  one  of  the  pro- 
genitors of  Christian  theology;  but  at  its  birth 
the  Christian  Church  was  occupied  with  other 
things.  The  language  of  Jesus  was  the  speech  of 
the  home  and  the  field,  the  market  place  and  the 
vineyard;  the  insight  of  the  prophet  rested  on  the 

I  De  Somn.,  i,  148  (ed.  Wendland,  iii,  p.  236).  For  eeb(popoi 
cp.  Brehier,  Idees,  p.  201^. 

»  De  Somn.,  ii,  249  {ihid.,  p.  298).  '  Ihid.,  250-1. 

4  De  Fortitud.,  8-9  (ed.  Cohn,  v,  p.  268). 

s  De  Cherub.,  19  (ed.  Cohn,  i,  p.  174). 

6  De  Plantat.,  37  (cd.  Wendland,  ii,  p.  141).  Cp.  Drummond, 
Philo,  ii,  p.  323-4- 


Salvation  by  Gnosis  305 

education  of  life,  not  of  the  schools.  Paul  dis- 
trusts the  world's  wisdom,  content  that  the  world's 
"foolish  things"  might  put  its  professional  teachers 
to  shame.  He  must  needs  use  every  now  and  then 
some  philosophical  term,  he  cannot  escape  from 
his  own  culture.  The  author  of  Acts  ascribes  to 
him  the  arguments  from  natural  religion  in  com- 
mon use  in  the  Stoic  schools.^  He,  too,  teaches 
the  elevation  of  God  above  every  want  in  sublime 
self-sufficiency.^  The  same  appeals  are  made  by 
Clement  from  Rome.  By  way  of  persuading  the 
Corinthians  to  concord  he  dwells  on  the  divine 
gifts  of  peace  in  the  harmony  of  the  universe. 
Day  and  night  follow  each  other  without  interfer- 
ence; sun  and  moon  and  the  unswerving  stars 
pursue  their  appointed  way;  the  ocean  observes 
the  bounds  prescribed  for  it;  the  winds  fulfil 
their  service  unopposed.^  For  Clement,  too,  the 
Sovereign  of  creation  is  in  need  of  nothing,''  but 
the  doctrine  of  God  receives  no  elaboration; 
Clement's  background  is  that  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment resting  on  the  common  culture  of  the  day. 
Ignatius  writes  as  a  mystic  not  a  philosopher. 
Visions  of  unity  float  before  his  eyes.  But  it  is 
not  the  nature-mysticism  of  the  pantheist;  it  is 
the  unity  of  history,  which  crowns  the  series  of 
Patriarchs  and  Prophets  with  the  Gospel,  and  the 

»  Cp.  Acts  xiv,  15-17,  xvii,  24. 

'  Ibid.,  xvii,  25;  cp.  Xordcn,  Agnostos  Theos  (1913),  p.  14. 
3  I  Clem.  XX. 

<  'AirpoirSe-^s  6  Sea-TrirTjj,  ibid.,  lii.     The  title  is  frequent  in  the 
LXX. 


3o6  Phases  of  Early  Christianity- 
unity  of  the  Church  which  mirrors  the  government 
of  God.'  Hermas  is  concerned  with  the  sins  of 
the  present  and  the  destinies  of  the  future;  his 
problems  are  practical,  speculation  has  no  interest 
for  him. 

In  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  however,  another 
strain  enters  Christian  teaching.  The  stately- 
phrases  of  its  opening  sentence  imply  familiarity 
with  philosophic  thought;  and  the  numerous 
parallels  of  its  language  with  the  Wisdom  of  Solo- 
mon and  the  writings  of  Philo  show  the  beginnings 
of  a  definite  alliance  with  Hellenistic  culture. 
Under  tliis  influence  the  Gospel  is  translated  into 
new  forms.  A  concept  of  the  schools  is  employed 
by  the  Fourth  Evangelist  to  interpret  the  person 
of  Jesus ;  and  salvation  is  placed  in  a  kind  of  gnosis 
or  knowledge:  "This  is  life  eternal,  that  they 
should  know  thee  the  only  true  God,  and  him  whom 
thou  didst  send,  Jesus  Christ."^  Christianity 
was  thus  brought  into  the  sphere  of  the  intel- 
lectual problems  which  occupy  the  philosophic 
theologian,  and  the  leaven  of  a  fresh  interest 
began  to  work  in  many  ways.  Justin,  wearing 
the  philosopher's  mantle,  is  accosted  in  the  Xystus 
at  Ephesus  by  the  Jew  Trypho,  who  defines  the 
object  of  philosophy  as  the  investigation  of  the 
Deity.     Justin  recites  the  steps  of  his  search,  and 

'  Cp.  Philad.,  ix,  Trail.,  iii,  etc. 

^  John  xvii,  3.  The  term  gnosis  does  not  appear  in  the  Gospel, 
but  the  corresponding  verb  "know"  is  one  of  its  most  important 
words. 


Salvation  by  Gnosis  307 

traces  his  pilgrimage  from  Stoic  to  Peripatetic, 
Pythagorean,  and  Platonist,  till  finally  he  found 
himself  a  lover  of  the  prophets  and  the  friends  of 
Christ.  Their  philosophy  was  secure  and  pro- 
fitable, and  he  begins  to  discuss  from  the  Greek 
side  some  of  the  difficulties  which  the  application 
of  the  doctrine  of  the  Logos  begot.  The  Christian 
missionaries  could  not  evade  these  difficulties, 
and  their  language  indicates  their  need  of  harmon- 
izing the  Biblical  teaching  with  the  phraseology 
of  the  culture  of  the  day.  The  Preaching  of  Peter 
in  the  first  part  of  the  second  century'  defines  God 
as  "the  Unseen  who  sees  all  things,  the  Uncon- 
tained  who  contains  all  things,  the  Unneeding 
whom  all  things  need,  and  through  whom  they 
exist.  Incomprehensible,  Eternal,  Incorruptible, 
Unmade,  who  made  all  things  by  the  Word  of  his 
Power  (the  Gnostic  "Beginning"),  that  is  his 
Son.  "^  What  is  the  meaning  of  this  curious 
identification?  Who  were  the  Gnostics,  and  what 
was  the  nature  of  their  gnosis  or  secret  knowledge? 
The  name  "Gnostic"  covers  a  large  and  com- 
plicated variety  of  movements  within  the  field  of 
Christianity  which  rose  rapidly  into  importance 
in  the  second  century.  ^    The  new  teaching  gravely 

'  Before  140  a.d.,  Hennecke,  N.  T.liche  Apokryphen  (1904), 
p.  169. 

^  Clem.  Alex.,  Stromal.,  VI,  v,  §  39. 

3  The  name  Gnostic  seems  to  have  been  used  bj*  Cclsus  (about 
178  B.C.?),  Origen,  Contra  Cels.,  V,  Ixi.  Hippolytus,  Rcfulalio, 
V,  i,  says  that  the  Naassenes  were  the  first  so  to  describe 
themselves. 


3o8       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

threatened  the  stabiHty  of  the  Faith.  It  assumed 
widely  different  forms  in  the  hands  of  different 
leaders,  but  in  spite  of  the  diversity  of  its  sects  it 
was  marked  by  certain  common  features  which 
distinguished  it  from  the  growing  consciousness 
of  the  CathoHc  Church.  It  drew  into  itself  ele- 
ments from  many  sources,  Babylonian,  Persian, 
Phrygian,  Syrian,  Egyptian,  Greek.  It  had  affini- 
ties with  the  Babylonian  dualism  of  an  upper 
and  a  lower  world,  with  the  PersianduaHsm  of 
light  and  darkness,  with  the  Greek  duaHsm  of 
matter  and  spirit.  It  produced  an  active  litera- 
ture, but  httle  of  theVorks  of  its  most  thoughtful 
writers  remains  to  provide  first-hand  evidence  of 
their  ideas.  It  created  austere  moral  disciplines 
on  the  one  hand,  and  it  issued  in  strange  forms  of 
licentiousness  upon  the  other.  In  the  course  of 
a  few  generations  it  reached  its  culmination  as  the 
Church,  in  the  persons  of  Irenasus,  Tertullian, 
Hippolytus,  marshalled  its  arguments  against  it; 
it  decHned  in  the  third  century  and  faded  away 
in  the  fourth  when  a  new  type  of  heresy  took  its 
place  under  the  name  of  Manichseism.  In  self- 
defence  the  Church  armed  itself  with  a  fresh  Canon 
and  set  the  Scriptures  of  the  Nev/  Testament 
beside  those  of  the  Old;  elaborated  its  doctrine  of 
tradition;  and  provided  itself  with  a  guarantee  of 
unity  by  formulating  a  Rule  of  Faith. ' 

"Know  thyself"  was  the  warning  addressed  to 
the  Greek  worshipper  as  he  approached  the  sanc- 

•  Cp.  Lect.  II.,  p.  83. 


Salvation  by  Gnosis  309 

tuary  of  Apollo  at  Delphi.  "Know  the  Lord" 
was  the  appeal  of  the  Hebrew  prophet  to  the  people 
of  Israel.  One  of  the  Gnostic  formulae  sought  to 
link  the  two  orders  of  knowledge  together :  ' '  The 
beginning  of  perfection  is  the  knowledge  of  man, " 
ran  a  saying  of  the  sect  known  as  Naassenes,* 
"the  end  of  perfection  is  the  knowledge  of  God."^ 
If  this  was  the  aim  of  religion,  it  was  no  less  that 
of  philosophy,  and  to  some  of  the  critics  and  op- 
ponents of  Gnosticism,  notably  to  Tertullian, 
philosophy  appeared  in  the  odious  light  of  the 
origin  of  all  the  heresies.^  In  reality,  however, 
it  would  seem  that  tendencies  analogous  to  those 
which  produced  the  teachers  of  the  second  century 
had  already  been  at  work  in  Judaism  before 
Christianity  arose.  ■'  Paul  has  to  contend  with 
cognate  ideas  at  Colosse.^  The  first  prominent 
figure,  however,  held  up  for  patristic  reprobation 
is  that  of  Simon  the  Mage  of  Samaria  who  went, 
like  so  many  other  sectaries,  to  Rome.^     His  dis- 

'  The  name  is  founded  on  the  Hebrew  word  for  snake,  and 
corresponds  to  the  Greek  Ophites,  as  though  they  were  the 
"Serpentines." 

'  Hippol.,  Refutatio,  V,  i,  8. 

3  Tcrt.,  De  Prccscripl.  Heretic,  vii.  But  in  the  ApoL,  xvii,  and 
De  Teslimon.  Anima:,  he  takes  a  different  view. 

*  Cp.  Philo,  De  Poster.  Cain.,  xi,  xiv-xv.  On  the  general  ques- 
tion of  the  origins  of  Gnosticism  see  the  brilHant  treatise  of 
Bousset,  Ilauptprobleme  der  Gnosis  (1907),  especially  p.  54  ff.  Cp. 
Friedlander,  Der  Vorchrislliche  Jiidische  Gnosticismus  (1898). 

s  Cp.  Lightfoot,  Colossians  and  Philemon  (1904),  p.  71  sqq. 

*  Sec  Harnack's  bold  and  original  view  of  his  doctrines,  Ilisl. 
of  Dogma,  i,  p.  244. 


310       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

ciple,  Menander  of  Capparatea,  established  himself 
at  Antioch,  the  brilliant  city  of  the  East,  and 
there  Basilides  and  Saturninus  were  said  to  have 
studied  under  him.     Basilides  made  his  home  in 
Alexandria,  whence  Cerinthus,  another  traditional 
father  of  heresy,  had  already  proceeded  to  Ephesus, 
where    Church   legend   represented    him   as   the 
adversary  of  the  Apostle  John.     Egypt  was  the 
home,  too,  of  Valentinus,  trained  in  the  school  of 
Platonism,  whose  followers  were  among  the  most 
numerous  and  wide-spread  of  all  the  sects.     From 
among   the   Alexandrian   Platonists,    also,    came 
Carpocrates  and  his  son  Epiphanes,  so  that  the 
fundamental  Platonic  conception  of  the  transcend- 
ence and  spirituahty  of  God  was  deeply  impressed 
on  much  of  the  Gnostic  teaching.     The  leaders  of 
the    second    century    boldly    attempted    on    the 
philosophical  side  to  do  what   Philo  had   done 
before  them,  viz.,  to  construct  a  series  of  links  be- 
tween the  Being  of  God  conceived  as  the  ultimate 
Monad  (a  Platonic  term)  and  the  world  of  change 
known  to  our  senses.     And  from  this  scene  of 
temptation  and  suffering  they  sought  to  rescue  the 
soul  which  had  fallen  from  the  realm  of  light  into 
the  darkness  of  error  and  sin,  and  restore  it  to  its 
true  home  above.     It  was  on  this  side  that  the 
Gnostic  teachers  kept  close  to  Christianity  as  a 
religion  of  salvation  and  emphasized  the  function 
of  Christ  as  a  Saviour. 

The    founders    of    different    schools,    however, 
though  they  might  have  been  students  of  philo- 


Salvation  by  Gnosis  311 

sophy,  did  not  base  their  gnosis  on  reasoning. 
Their  methods  were  not  dialectic.  Valentinus, 
for  example,  was  poet  and  mystic,  soaring  into  a 
realm  of  imaginative  creation,  as  if  he  had  dis- 
carded altogether  the  discipline  of  the  schools. 
The  goal  for  which  he  strove  was  the  vision  of  God. 
In  a  letter  quoted  by  Clement  of  Alexandria,'  he 
declares  that  there  is  only  One  who  is  good,  and 
through  him  alone  can  the  heart  become  pure 
when  every  evil  spirit  is  expelled  from  it.  Like 
an  inn  on  which  men  bestow  no  care  because  it 
belongs  to  some  one  else,  the  heart  which  is  un- 
cared  for  becomes  unclean,  the  abode  of  many 
demons.  "But  when  the  Father  who  alone  is 
good,  visits  it,  it  is  sanctified  and  shines  with 
light;  and  thus  he  who  has  such  a  heart  is  to  be 
called  blessed,  for  he  shall  see  God."  The  type 
of  gnosis  by  which  this  was  to  be  reached  might 
vary,  like  the  mode  of  its  communication.  Ulti- 
mately, of  course,  it  was  traced  back  to  Clirist, 
and  depended  on  a  revelation  first  communicated 
by  him.  A  Naassene  hymn  preserved  by  Hippo- 
ly tus  ^  contains  his  promise  to  unfold  all  mysteries, 
and  adds  the  declaration 

"The  secrets  of  the  Holy  Path 
Called  Gnosis  I'll  impart." 

For  such  teaching,  hidden  from  the  world  and 
delivered  privately  to  the  disciples,  abundant 
room  was  found  by  extending  the  period  of  the 

•  Stromata,  II,  xx,  §114.  » Refutalio,  V,  v. 


312       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

Lord's  intercourse  with  the  Twelve  after  the  resur- 
rection. The  curious  treatise  entitled  Pistis  Sophia 
("Faith-Wisdom"),  belonging  probably  to  the 
third  century/  allowed  eleven  years  for  this  piir- 
pose,  during  which  sacred  mysteries  were  revealed. 
Another  method  was  the  allegorical  interpretation 
of  Scripture.  Basilides  wrote  explanations  of  the 
Gospels  in  twenty-four  books.  Heracleon  com- 
posed the  first  commentary  on  the  Fourth  Gospel, 
from  which  Origen  made  considerable  extracts; 
and  in  the  exercise  of  religious  phantasy  it  would 
be  difficult  sometimes  to  say  which  of  the  two 
expositors  wandered  the  farthest  from  the  plain 
meaning  of  the  text.  The  Old  Testament  might 
be  absolutely  rejected  as  a  religious  authority, 
after  the  fashion  of  Marcion.^  There  are  traces 
of  strange  sects  which  transformed  offenders  like 
Cain,  the  men  of  Sodom,  Esau,  Korah,  Dathan 
and  Abiram,  into  elect  worthies;  while  Judas  be- 
came a  sort  of  partner  in  the  redemption  by 
bringing  about  the  death  of  Jesus  which  the 
hostile  powers  desired  to  prevent  lest  thereby 
humanity  should  be  saved.  ^  From  the  New 
Testament  a  selection  might  be  made,  like  Mar- 
cion's  Canon,  which  consisted  of  the  Gospel 
according  to  Luke  with  some  excisions,  and  eleven 

'  Edited  from  a  Coptic  translation  from  the  original  Greek, 
Koptisch-Gnostische  Schrijlen,  i.  (1905),  by  Carl  Schmidt. 

=>  Cp.  Lect.  II,  p.  80. 

3  De  Faye,  Gnostiques  el  Gnosticisme  (1913),  p.  349  f.  There 
was  even  a  Gospel  of  Judas. 


Salvation  by  Gnosis  313 

letters  of  the  Apostle  Paul.  But  the  scanty 
references  of  their  opponents  make  it  impossible 
to  determine  in  detail  the  attitude  of  the  different 
sects  to  the  several  books  now  included  in  the 
Scriptures,  Their  fundamental  conception  of  a 
fall  and  a  redemption  has  most  affinity  with  cer- 
tain elements  in  the  Pauline  teaching,  however 
different  might  be  the  mythological  forms  in 
which  it  was  clothed.  With  the  eschatological 
outlook  of  primitive  Christianity  they  had  no 
sympathy.  The  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  of 
the  body  was  altogether  alien  to  their  thought. 

Divided  into  a  great  variety  of  sects,  the  Gnos- 
tics had  their  meetings  for  worship,  but  their 
followers  formed  no  united  church.  Valentinus, 
it  would  seem,  had  at  first  no  idea  of  founding  a 
separate  community.  Of  their  organization,  their 
methods  of  spreading  their  teaching,  their  minis- 
tries and  missionary  labours,  their  critics  tell  us 
little  or  nothing.  They  were  active  in  literary 
production.  They  composed  psalms  and  hymns, 
they  wrote  letters,  they  drew  up  narratives  under 
Apostolic  names.  Deeply  conscious  of  the  element 
of  passion  in  human  nature,  the  early  teachers 
like  Basilides  and  Valentinus  occupied  themselves 
with  the  problem  of  evil,  whence  did  it  come, 
and  in  what  did  it  consist? '  The  Platonic  dualism 
of  matter  and  spirit  led  them  to  find  its  seat,  in 
part  at  any  rate,  in  man's  physical  constitution. 
The  body  was  formed  by  inferior  angels,  who  em- 

*  Tert.,  De  Praescript.  Heretic,  vii,  "unde  malum." 


314       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

ployed  matter  from  this  lower  world,  and  intro- 
duced into  it  the  passions  which  disturbed  the 
higher  nature  lodged  within  it. '  To  master  these 
a  strict  asceticism  was  often  demanded.  There 
were  obscure  sects  which  claimed  a  liberty  above 
all  law,  though  charges  of  licentiousness  must 
always  be  received  with  caution.  But  the  great 
Gnostics,  such  as  Valentinus  (whose  followers  were 
the  most  numerous  and  the  most  widely  diffused) 
and  Marcion  (who  in  this  respect  may  be  reckoned 
with  them) ,  were  emphatic  rigorists.  Marcion  even 
condemned  marriage,  and  one  of  the  later  works 
preserved  in  Coptic  translations  exalts  virginity.  * 
The  disappearance  of  the  best  Gnostic  literature, 
and  the  confused  expositions  of  their  ecclesiastical 
opponents,  render  it  extremely  difficult  to  trace 
the  rise  and  development  of  particular  schools. 
Our  fullest  information  gathers  round  Valentinus 
and  his  disciples.  Valentinus  himself  taught  at 
Rome.  Heracleon  and  Ptolemy  were  connected 
with  Italy;  Irenaeus  encountered  Valentinians  in 
the  valley  of  the  Rhone ;  in  Asia  Minor  Theodotus 
was  at  work,  and  a  series  of  extracts  from  his  writ- 
ings has  been  preserved  by  the  pen  of  Clement  of 
Alexandria.  The  main  purpose  of  the  gnosis  was 
deliverance  from  evil,  or  redemption;  it  explained 

'  This  seems  to  have  been  the  view  of  Valentinus,  De  Faye, 
Gnostiques  et  Gnosticisme,  p.  43. 

'  See  the  Book  of  Jed,  i,  4,  in  Schmidt's  Koplisch-Gnostische 
Schrijten,  1,  p.  260,  concerning  those  who  bore  the  virginity  of 
Jesus. 


Salvation  by  Gnosis  315 

"who  we  were,  what  we  have  become,  where  we 
were,  whither  we  have  been  flung,  whither  we 
hasten,  whence  we  are  redeemed,  what  is  birth, 
and  what  is  rebirth."'  The  Valentinian  doctrine 
of  existing  mankind  distributed  them  into  three 
groups.  Highest  of  all  were  the  ''pneumatics,'' 
or  "spirituals";  lowest  were  the  "hylics,''  or 
"materials";  between  the  two  extremes  were  the 
"psychics,"  who  might  rise  into  the  upper  rank 
or  sink  into  that  which  was  beneath.  The  frag- 
ments of  Heracleon's  commentary  on  the  Fourth 
Gospel  preserved  by  Origen  illustrate  this  division 
in  connection  with  the  story  of  the  woman  of 
Samaria.^  The  spiritual  nature  is  declared  to 
be  homoousios  (of  the  same  substance)  with  the 
Unbegotten;  such  are  they  who  worship  God  in 
spirit^;  they  are  compared  with  the  High  Priests 
who  enter  the  Holy  of  Holies. "  The  mountain  of 
the  Samaritan  cultus  represents  the  world  over 
which  the  devil  presides.  ^  The  water  in  Jacob's 
well  is  the  worldly  life;  that  which  the  Saviour 
gives  is  eternal.  In  asking  for  it  the  Samaritan 
woman  reveals  herself  as  a  true  "pneumatic," 
temporarily   fallen   from    her   proper    home    and 

'  Excerpt.  Theod.,  78,  2,  in  Clem.  Alex.  (cd.  Stahlin),  Vol.  iii, 
p.  131. 

'  Heracleon,  the  most  distinguished  of  the  disciples  of  Valen- 
tinus  according  to  Clem.  Alex.,  Strom.,  IV,  ix,  §  71,  was  known  to 
Irenasus,  cp.  Brooke,  Texts  and  Studies  (Cambridge),  i,  4,  p.  34, 
and  may  be  placed  between  155  &  180,  De  Faye,  op.  cit.,  p.  54. 

^  Fragm.,  24,  ed.  Brooke,  p.  81. 

*  Ibid.,  13,  ibid.,  p.  68.  s  Ibid.,  20. 


3i6       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

seeking  for  the  means  of  return.*  The  element 
which  is  related  to  the  Father  has  been  lost  in  the 
deep  matter  of  error,  hence  it  is  "sought"  that 
the  Father  may  be  worshipped  by  his  true  kin- 
dred.^ Inasmuch  as  they  are  of  the  same  nature 
with  him,  they  who  worship  in  truth  are  spirit.  ^ 
Redemption  is  apparently  effected  by  the  awaken- 
ing of  the  consciousness  of  their  real  character,  an 
inward  enlightenment  which  brings  with  it  the 
saving  gnosis.  But  whether  this  is  the  destiny 
of  all  "spirituals,"  or  whether  some  are  lost  and 
never  found,  the  surviving  fragments  do  not  make 
clear.  The  "psychics"  like  the  "spirituals"  are 
entangled  in  matter,  but  not  hopelessly.  They, 
too,  may  rise  into  the  higher  life ;  they  are  auTs^ouatot, 
they  possess  free  will.''  They  have  at  least  the 
capacity  for  salvation,  the  corruptible  can  put  on 
incorruption.  They  are  represented  by  the  men 
who  come  forth  from  the  city  on  the  summons 
of  the  woman.  On  the  other  hand  the  lowest 
class,  the  "hylics, "  the  earthy  and  the  carnal,  are 
incapable  of  salvation.  Emphasizing  the  dualism 
of  the  Fourth  Gospel,  "ye  are  of  your  father  the 
devil"  {John  viii,  44),  Heracleon  declares  that 
they  are  6;xoouacot  (of  the  same  substance)  with  him,  ^ 
and  as  such  essentially  irredeemable.  For  his 
nature  is  not  derived  from  truth,  but  from  its 
contrary,  error  and  ignorance,  its  characteristic 
is  'falsehood,  truth  is  beyond  its  reach.  ^     For  such 

'  Fragm.,  17,  19.  '  Ibid.,  23.  3  Ibid.,  24. 

*  De  Faye,  op.  cit.,  p.  67.         s  Fragm.,  44.  *  Ibid.,  47. 


Salvation  by  Gnosis  317 

as  inherited  being  of  this  quaHty  Jesus  might 
well  say  "Whither  I  go  ye  cannot  come"  {John 
viii,  21).  How  could  those  who  exist  in  ignor- 
ance and  unbelief  and  sin  attain  incorruption?^ 
Doom  does  indeed  lie  over  the  "earthy."  But 
among  the  "devil's  sons"  might  be  some  who  were 
not  his  real  offspring  (?jast),  though  they  did  his 
will  of  their  own  choice  (yvw'^y]).^  These  were 
actually  "psychics"  who  had  temporarily  lapsed, 
and  might  recover.  The  number  of  the  hopelessly 
lost  was  thus  reduced.  Heracleon  was  evidently 
anxious  to  widen  all  possible  avenues  to  salvation. 
Behind  all  this  process  stood  the  Absolute,  the 
unchanging  God.  Stainless  and  pure  and  invis- 
ible, said  Heracleon,  is  his  nature  as  Spirit.^  He 
is  the  Father  of  Truth,  '^  and  if  ecclesiastical  tradi- 
tion may  be  trusted,  Heracleon  applied  to  him  the 
Pythagorean  term  the  "  Monad. "  How  far  Hera- 
cleon accepted  the  poetical  construction  of  Valen- 
tinus  for  connecting  the  Unseen  Deity  with  the 
visible  world,  the  surviving  fragments  are  insuf- 
ficient to  prove.  Valentinus  wrought  out  his  system 
by  imagination  rather  than  by  reason,  and  boldly 
soared  into  a  realm  of  immensity  which  he  could 
people  with  vast  grandiose  figures  by  way  of  pic- 
tiiresque  expression  of  his  ideas.  He,  too,  had  drunk 
deep  draughts  of  the  wisdom  of  Pythagoras  and 
Plato,  5  and  posited  as  the  ultimate  ground  of  all 
existence    "a   Monad   unbegotten,   imperishable^ 

'  Fragm.,  41.  » Ibid.,  46.  3  Ibid.,  24. 

*  Ibid.,  20.  s  Hippolyt.,  Refutatio,  VI,  xxiv. 


31 8       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

incomprehensible,"  to  whom  was  given  the  name 
of  Father.  Unhampered  by  conditions  of  time 
and  space,  he  became  the  source  of  a  series  of  beings 
from  whose  lowest  term  the  world  and  man  at  last 
proceeded.  Like  other  mystics  Valentinus  could 
only  conceive  the  activity  of  God  as  love.  In 
infinite  solitude  love  sought  an  object  of  affection. 
Whether  or  not  Silence  was  by  his  side  as  a  mys- 
terious consort  to  break  his  sublime  isolation  the 
Valentinians  were  not  agreed.^  Forth  from  him- 
self the  Father  projected  the  first  pair  of  energies, 
Mind  and  Truth.  From  them  descended  a  series 
known  as  .^ons,  beginning  with  Logos  (Word) 
and  Life,  and  proceeding  onwards  through  Man 
and  Church.  The  whole  Godhead  with  these  suc- 
cessive projections  constituted  the  Pleroma  or 
Fulness,  which  consisted  of  thirty  terms;  and  with 
the  curious  numerical  symbolism  which  his  critics 
attributed  to  Pythagorean  influence  Valentinus 
found  them  typified  in  the  thirty  years  of  Christ's 
age  at  baptism.  ^  Last  of  these  ^ons  was  Sophia 
(Wisdom) ,  consequently  the  most  remote  from  the 
fountain-head  of  Deity.  In  the  beginning  Mind 
only  knew  the  Father.  Rejoicing  in  his  immeasur- 
able majesty  he  meditated  how  to  reveal  him  to 
the  rest  of  the  ^ons.     They  in  their  turn  were 

'  So  Hippolytus.  Among  recent  interpreters  Profs.  Bousset 
and  De  Faye  (whom  I  have  followed)  also  differ.  The  testi- 
mony of  Hippolytus  to  the  views  of  Valentinus  himself  seems 
clear.  Heracleon  says  nothing  about  Silence  in  the  extant  frag- 
ments. 

'  Iren.,  Adv.  Hares.,  I,  i,  3;  II,  xxii. 


Salvation  by  Gnosis  319 

filled  with  calm  desire  to  behold  the  Projector  of 
their  seed,  and  contemplate  their  Root  without 
beginning.  But  the  youngest  ^on,  Wisdom, 
greatly  daring,  and  grieved  that  she  could  not 
share  Mind's  communion  with  the  perfect  Father, 
sought  to  comprehend  his  greatness.  As  she 
stretched  forward  and  was  in  danger  of  being 
reabsorbed  into  his  Being,  she  encountered  Horos, 
the  "Limit."  He  held  her  back,  persuaded  her 
of  the  incomprehensibility  of  the  Father,  weaned 
her  from  her  passion,  and  thus  restored  peace 
within  the  Fulness.^ 

Such  was  the  beginning  of  the  strange  myth  of 
the  fall  of  Wisdom.  It  ends  with  the  creation  of 
the  world.  Our  universe  results  from  the  passion 
of  Sophia.  In  the  incoherence  and  confusion  of 
the  reports  the  details  of  the  process  are  obscure. 
But  the  Demiurge  or  Creator  finally  comes  into 
view  in  a  homily  of  Valentinus  quoted  by  Clement 
of  Alexandria.^  Over  against  the  Church  teach- 
ing which  declared  the  identity  of  the  God  of  the 
Law,  the  Prophets,  and  the  Gospel,  Valentinus 
affirmed  that  the  Creator  described  in  Genesis  was 
only  an  "image"  or  "prophet"  of  the  True  God. 
He  might  bear  the  titles  God  and  Father,  but  he 
was  only  like  a  "painter"  seeking  to  reproduce  in 
the  visible  scene  the  likeness  of  Wisdom,  to  the 
glory  of  the  Invisible.  Thus  the  last  link  was 
forged  in  the  long  chain  uniting  the  world  of  time 
and  change  with  the  Eternal.     In  the  creation  of 

'  Iren.,  Adv.  Hceres.,  I,  ii.  "  Stromata,  IV,  xiii,  §  90. 


320       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

man  the  Demiurge,  it  would  seem,  was  assisted 
by  subordinate  Rulers.  From  him  came,  at  least 
into  some  men  (the  "spirituals"),  the  divine  seed 
which  guaranteed  their  Immortality;  from  them, 
the  physical  elements  of  coarser  matter  which 
dragged  them  into  sin.  "From  the  beginning," 
said  Valentinus,  "ye  are  immortal,  and  children  of 
eternal  life. ' '  In  mysterious  words  he  foretold  how 
death  itself  should  die  In  them  and  through  them, 
and  they  should  become  lords  of  all  creation  and 
corruption.^  How  should  this  hope  be  achieved? 
The  cosmic  speculations  of  Gnosticism  were 
really  only  the  setting  for  the  central  theme  of  the 
soul's  destiny.  The  past  could  not  be  without  its 
interest,  but  it  was  on  the  future  that  attention 
was  really  fixed.  If  there  was  a  divine  element  in 
humanity,  how  could  It  be  set  free  from  its  en- 
tanglement in  the  flesh  and  restored  to  its  home 
on  high?  The  theme  of  its  descent,  its  servitude 
in  the  world  of  pleasure  and  change,  its  forget- 
fulness  of  its  origin,  its  awakening  to  Its  true  nature 
and  its  return  to  the  land  of  light.  Is  expounded 
with  the  adornments  of  a  folk-tale  in  the  famous 
hymn  put  Into  the  mouth  of  the  Apostle  Thomas 
when  he  was  In  prison  "in  the  country  of  the 
Indians."^    The  poet  tells  how  when  he  was  yet 

'  Stromata  IV,  xiii,  §  89. 

*  Cp.  Bevan,  Texts  and  Studies  (Cambridge),  1897,  Vol.  v.,  3; 
Burkitt,  Early  Eastern  Christianity  (1904),  pp.  218  £f.,  and  The 
Quest,  ]n\Y,  1914,  p.  617;  Preuschen,  Zwei  Cnostische  Hyntnen 
(1904);  Mead,  The  Hymn  of  the  Robe  of  Glory  (1908),  in  Echoes 
of  the  Gnosis,  Vol.  x. 


Salvation  by  Gnosis  321 

but  a  little  child  in  the  house  of  his  Father,  he 
was  sent  by  his  parents  from  his  home  in  the 
Parthian  Empire  to  fetch  from  Egypt  the  Pearl 
that  was  guarded  by  the  all-swallowing  Serpent. 
Gifts  were  given  him  for  the  journey,  but  his 
bright  robe  was  taken  from  him  as  he  departed, 
with  the  promise  of  its  restoration  when  he  should 
return  with  his  prize,  and  this  was  engraven  on  his 
heart  that  he  should  not  forget  it.  Alone  and  an 
exile  in  Egypt  he  watches  for  the  Pearl.  He  wears 
the  dress  of  the  country  to  escape  recognition, 
but  a  single  confidant,  whom  he  has  entrusted 
with  his  secret,  betrays  him.  In  their  guile  the 
Egyptians  give  him  to  eat  of  their  dainties;  he 
forgets  his  race  and  the  Pearl,  and  serves  the  king 
of  the  country.  But  his  parents  know  what  has 
befallen  him,  and  they  send  him  a  letter  which 
speeds  to  him  with  the  flight  of  an  eagle,  and 
speaks  to  him  in  his  native  tongue.  At  the  sound 
of  its  tones  he  awakens  from  his  slumber.  The 
words  of  the  letter  were  like  those  engraved  on  his 
heart.  He  remembers  his  royal  race  and  his 
free-born  nature,  remembers  the  task  which  he 
had  been  sent  to  fulfil.  He  charms  the  Serpent  to 
sleep,  seizes  the  Pearl,  and  sets  his  course  straight 
for  his  own  land,  lighted  upon  his  way  by  the 
letter.  On  the  journey  he  meets  the  Robe  of  his 
childhood,  now  fashioned  after  his  maturer  like- 
ness. Clad  in  its  splendour  he  reaches  the  Palace- 
gate,  and  pays  homage  to  his  father's  Viceroy  for 
his  protection.     He  is  received  with  favour  to  be 


Z'22       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

with  him  in  his  kingdom,  and  awaits  a  yet  higher 

joy- 

"  Now  to  the  King  of  Kings  one  day  he  hath  promised 
to  take  me, 
There  by  his  side  with  my  gift  and  my  Pearl  I  shall 
stand  in  the  Presence." 

The  lovely  allegory  describes  the  mission  of  the 
soul  from  heaven,  its  native  sphere,  to  the  life  of 
earth,  represented  by  the  unclean  land  of  Egypt, 
full  of  magic  and  enchantments.  The  heavenly 
form  must  be  left  behind,  but  it  keeps  pace  with 
the  growth  of  its  owner  who  will  be  ' '  clothed  upon  " 
with  its  glory  when  he  returns  to  his  Father's 
house,  victor  over  temptation  with  the  prize  of 
salvation  in  his  hand.  Father  and  Mother,  the 
King  of  Kings  and  the  Queen  of  the  East,  im- 
personate the  Father  and  the  Spirit.  The  Viceroy, 
who  is  also  Brother  of  the  soul,  is  Christ. 

On  this  return  of  the  soul  to  its  heavenly  home 
Gnostic  imagination  dwelt  with  insistent  emphasis. 
It  was  usually  presented  under  the  figure  of  the 
Babylonian  cosmology  with  its  seven  heavens,^ 
which  had  spread  all  through  the  East  and  was 
firmly  lodged  in  Judaism  and  some  circles  of  early 
Christianity.  Gate  after  gate  must  be  passed 
on  the  ascent,  and  the  soul  must  be  provided  with 
the  proper  formulae  by  which  to  secure  admission 
from  the  Seven  Rulers  presiding  successively  over 

I  Corresponding  to  the  sun,  the  moon,  and  the  five  planets. 
Cp.  ante,  p.  129. 


Salvation  by  Gnosis  323 

each  sphere.  ^  Instruction  in  these  charms  formed 
part  of  the  Gnostic  mysteries.^  The  nature  and 
the  names  of  the  Seven  must  be  duly  known,  but 
such  knowledge  was  not  by  itself  sufficient  to 
unbar  the  gates.  Before  the  soul  could  enter  on 
the  upward  way,  it  must  have  been  delivered 
from  its  ignorance  and  sin. 

The  need  of  redemption  was  generally  recog- 
nized, but  Irenaeus  laments  that  each  mystagogue 
had  a  different  scheme  for  its  achievement.  For 
those  who  received  the  perfect  gnosis,  rebirth  into 
the  Power  which  is  over  all  was  indispensable.  Had 
not  Jesus  himself  declared  that  he  had  a  baptism 
to  be  baptized  with,  superior  to  that  of  John ;  had 
he  not  asked  the  sons  of  Zebedee  if  they  could  share 
it;  and  had  not  Paul  proclaimed  the  redemption 
in  Christ  Jesus?  JMany  were  the  modes  in  which 
it  was  effected, — the  celebration  of  a  mystic  bridal 
after  the  type  of  the  sacred  Pairs  above,  ^ —  initia- 
tions with  strange  words  and  formulae, — unction 
with  balsam, — baptism  "into  the  name  of  the 
unknown  Father  of  the  universe,  into  Truth  the 
Mother  of  all  things,  into  him  who  came  down 
into  Jesus,  into  union  and  redemption  and  fellow- 
ship with  the  Powers."''    The  Valentinian  Theo- 

'  Examples  are  supplied  by  Origen,  Contra  Cels.,  VI,  xxxi. 

'  Anz,  in  his  Urspriing  des  Cnoslicismus  (Texle  und  Unter- 
suchungen,  1897,  xv.,  4),  treats  this  as  the  central  doctrine. 
Among  the  Valentinians,  however,  the  traces  of  it  are  slight. 

3  There  are  traces  of  a  strange  myth  of  the  union  of  the  Saviour 
with  the  fallen  Sophia. 

<Iren.,  Adv.  Hares.,  I,  xxi,  1-3. 


324       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

dotus  (in  Anatolia)  taught  that  whoever  was 
baptized  into  God  entered  into  God,  and  received 
authority  over  evil  Powers.  Destiny  (Heimar- 
mene)  might  rule  till  baptism,  but  those  who  were 
born  again  into  the  name  of  the  Father,  Son,  and 
Holy  Spirit  were  lifted  above  all  evil  Principalities, 
and  the  predictions  of  astrologers  would  be  ful- 
filled no  more.^  Yet  others  affirmed  that  perfect 
redemption  was  independent  of  all  corporeal  rites. 
It  consisted  in  the  recognition  {epignosis)  of  the 
unspeakable  Majesty,  The  gnosis  was  the  re- 
demption of  the  inner  man,  and  must  therefore 
be  spiritual.^  For  the  Pauline  doctrine  of  the 
"redemption  of  the  body"  the  Gnostic  speculators 
had  no  place. 

That  redemption  was  the  work  of  Jesus  formed 
the  special  contribution  of  Christianity  to  Gnosti- 
cism. 3  But  in  what  this  work  consisted  remained 
obscure  and  undefined.  Theories  of  sacrifice  and 
atonement  did  not  flourish  in  the  Gnostic  at- 
mosphere. The  Valentinians  converted  the  Cross 
into  the  mysterious  "Limit,"''  but  of  the  "Messiah 
crucified  "  they  could  give  no  account.  He  imparts 
wisdom,  he  opens  the  inward  eye  to  behold  the 
truth,  he  redeems  by  revealing  the  eternal  Light, 
and  enabling  the  soul  to  understand  itself.    The 

*  Excerpt,  ex  Theod.,  76-78. 

'  Iren.,  Adv.  Hcsres.,  I,  xxi,  4. 

3  Cp.  Bevan,  "The  Gnostic  Redeemer,"  in  The  Hibbert  Journal, 
Vol.  xi  (1913),  P-  137- 

^  Horos,  with  which  the  Cross  (Stauros)  was  identified,  Iren., 
ibid.,  I,  ii,  4. 


Salvation  by  Gnosis  325 

end^  will  be  reached  when  the  whole  company  of 
"Spirituals"  is  formed  and  perfected  by  gnosis.^ 
To  such  modes  of  thought  it  was  intolerable  to 
suppose  that  Christ  had  occupied  a  material  body. 
The  Johannine  letters  already  denounce  those  who 
denied  that  Christ  had  come  in  the  flesh.  Cerin- 
thus  is  reported  to  have  taught  that  the  Christ 
descended  on  the  man  Jesus  at  the  baptism,  and 
withdrew  before  the  crucifixion,  A  strange  med- 
ley of  views  appears  in  the  pages  of  Irena^us — 
that  Christ  was  without  body  and  was  never  born 
but  was  only  a  phantasm — that  he  was  really  an 
incorporeal  Power  taking  what  shape  he  pleased 
without  suffering — that  he  changed  places  with 
Simon  of  Cyrene  who  was  crucified  in  his  stead — 
that  his  body  came  from  heaven  and  the  Virgin's 
womb  was  only  the  channel  through  which  it  was 
.transmitted  to  the  world.  In  the  Acts  of  John 
ascribed  to  Leucius  Charinus  (belonging  probably 
to  the  second  century)  the  Apostle  is  said  to  have 
left  the  scene  of  the  crucifixion  and  fled  to  the 
Mount  of  Olives,  where  he  took  refuge  in  a  cave. 
There  the  Lord  stood  in  the  midst  and  showed 
him  a  cross  of  light  set  up,  and  a  great  multitude 
round  about  it  with  divers  forms.  But  the  Lord 
himself  he  saw  above  the  cross  without  a  form, 
only  a  voice,  sweet  and  truly  divine,  which  tells 
him  that  the  cross  will  sometimes  be  called  Logos, 

»  Or  "consummation,"  as  in  Mali,  xiii,  39,  49,  xxiv,  3,  but 
applied  in  quite  a  different  connection. 
'Iran.,  ibid.,  I,  vi,  I. 


326       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

sometimes  Mind,  sometimes  Jesus,  sometimes 
Christ:  "I  was  supposed  to  be  what  I  am  not, 
not  being  what  I  was  for  many  others."  In 
riddUng  words  he  declares  that  he  has  suffered, 
yet  has  not  suffered,  and  when  John  descends 
from  the  mountain  he  laughs  at  what  the  specta- 
tors of  the  crucifixion  tell  him,  holding  fast  within 
himself  that  the  Lord  had  done  all  these  things 
symbolically  for  the  conversion  and  salvation  of 
men."  The  work  of  the  Saviour  is,  however, 
conceived  on  the  broadest  scale.  As  the  aged 
Apostle  prepares  to  descend  into  the  grave  which 
his  disciples  have  dug  by  his  instructions,  he  offers 
a  final  prayer: 

Thou  who  hast  never  rested  but  from  the  foundation 
of  the  world  art  for  ever  saving  those  that  can  be 
saved,  who  hast  made  thyself  known  throughout  all 
nature,  and  hast  proclaimed  thyself  even  among  the 
animals,  who  didst  make  the  desolate  and  hunted 
soul  calm  and  peaceful  .  .  .  who  didst  give  her  pure 
knowledge  concerning  thyself,  God  Jesus,  Father  of 
those  above  the  heavens.  Lord  of  those  in  the  heavens. 
Law  of  those  in  the  ether  and  Course  of  those  in  the 
air,  Guardian  of  those  on  the  earth,  and  Fear  of  those 
under  the  earth,  and  Grace  of  thine  own — receive  also 
the  soul  of  thy  John,  if  haply  it  be  found  worthy  by 
thee.^  - 

'  Bonnet,  Acta  Apostolomm  Apocrypha,  II,  i  (1898),  pp.  199- 
202.  There  are  interesting  affinities  between  the  Light-Cross  and 
the  Valentinian  Stauros-Horos,  which  it  is  impossible  here  to  work 
out  in  detail. 

^  Ibid.,  p.  211. 


Salvation  by  Gnosis  327 

Here  is  an  ardent  devotion  which  does  not  trouble 
itself  to  distinguish  theologically  between  the  per- 
sons of  the  Godhead,  but  embraces  in  one  sweep  of 
thought  a  purpose  pervading  all  time  and  all  exist- 
ence. In  the  shifting  multitude  of  elements  which 
the  ecclesiastical  critics  of  Gnosticism  flung  con- 
fusedly upon  their  pages,  it  must  not  be  forgotten 
that  for  many  pious  souls  it  provided  a  real  religion. 
It  might  emphasize  the  ascetic  morality  which  had 
been  implanted  in  the  Church  from  the  beginning. 
It  might  tend  to  decline  into  sacramentalism  on  the 
one  hand  and  grosser  forms  of  magic  on  the  other, 
just  as  it  might  also  profess  to  place  the  emanci- 
pated spirit  above  the  restraints  of  law.  But  in 
the  hands  of  its  best  teachers  it  could  nourish  a 
fruitful  piety,  just  as  it  could  also  attempt  the  solu- 
tion of  difficult  problems.  While  the  Apologists 
were  pleading  the  cause  of  Christianity  before  the 
Imperial  Government  and  the  educated  public, 
the  Gnostics  were  busy  with  the  great  themes  of 
the  relation  of  God  to  the  world,  the  method  of  his 
self -revelation,  the  origin  and  destiny  of  souls,  the 
function  of  Christ  in  the  process  of  salvation,  the 
divine  and  human  elements  in  his  person,  the  sig- 
nificance of  the  sacraments  as  hallowed  myste- 
ries. They  inaugurated  a  theological  movement 
to  which  the  Church  could  not  be  indifferent, 
and  opened  the  paths  along  which  it  should 
advance.  The  Church  remained  master  of  the 
field,  but  it  was  the  Gnostics  who  had  helped 
to   sharpen    the   weapons   by   which   its  victory 


328       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

over  Hellenic  culture  and  the  Mystery-religions 
was  secured. 

In  the  last  quarter  of  the  second  century  the 
crisis  became  acute.  A  vigorous  opposition  was 
directed  against  the  perverters  of  the  truth. 
Ecclesiastical  writers  arrayed  their  arguments,  and 
the  Church  armed  itself  with  a  Rule  of  Faith  and  a 
Canon  of  Scripture.  But  meanwhile  a  more  subtle 
process  was  begun.  Again  and  again  in  its  history 
Christianity  has  been  confronted  with  powerful 
new  influences  in  the  field  of  thought  which 
threatened  its  supremacy,  if  not  its  very  existence. 
Again  and  again  it  has  assimilated  them  and 
survived.  The  entry  of  the  Aristotelian  philosophy 
into  Europe,  after  its  long  pilgrimage  from  Bagdad 
to  Cordova,  gave  to  the  Church  of  the  thirteenth 
century  a  coherent  body  of  thought  which  enlisted 
the  noblest  minds  in  its  service.  The  "new  learn- 
ing" could  not  be  kept  out  three  hundred  years 
later,  and  though  it  rent  the  Church  in  twain  the 
conflict  only  evoked  fresh  energies  which  left 
Christendom,  even  though  divided,  purer  and 
stronger  than  before.  In  our  own  time  the  marvel- 
lous developments  of  science  were  at  first  viewed 
with  terror,  and  the  foundations  of  faith  seemed 
to  rock  beneath  our  feet;  but  its  great  ideas  have 
been  more  or  less  skilfully  incorporated  in  our 
theology,  and  it  has  become  the  ally  instead  of  the 
enemy  of  religion.  Through  some  such  time  of 
stress  did  the  Church  pass  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
second  century.    It  was  compelled  to  take  account 


Salvation  by  Gnosis  329 

of  the  great  intellectual  forces  all  around  it;  its 
whole  future   depended   on   the   terms   which   it 
would  make  with  them.     The  alliance  with  Greek 
philosophy    begun    by    the    Fourth    Evangelist 
remained  for  some  time  quiescent.     Justin  ap- 
pealed to  the  examples  of  Heracleitus  and  Socrates, 
and  claimed  that  Christians  were  the  real  owners 
of  all  the  best  teachings  of  the  past.     But  while 
writers  like  Melito  of  Sardis  or  Miltiades  were  by 
no  means  hostile  to  the  culture  of  their  time, 
others  took  up  an  attitude  of  uncompromising 
opposition.    The  Assyrian  Tatian,  who  had  been  a 
hearer  of  Justin  in  Rome,  opened  his  "Address 
to  the  Greeks"  with  a  vehement  attack  on  the 
philosophers.     With  biting  scorn  he  denounced 
their    conflicting   opinions,    their   arrogance   and 
mutual  hate,  Pythagoras  and  his  imitator  Plato 
being  the  special  objects  of  his  derision.    Theophi- 
lus,  who  was  bishop  of  Antioch  under  the  reign  of 
Marcus  Aurelius,  was  equally  impatient,  and  his 
representative   position   made   his   language   the 
more  significant.    From  the  vantage  ground  of  the 
Church  he  denounced  the  discordant  notions  of 
the  schools.     Those  who  had  blindly  wandered 
into  the  chair  of  philosophy  only  taught  lawlessness 
of  life ;  and  even  Plato,  who  seemed  to  have  been 
the  most  respectable  of  them  all,  was  only  too 
easily    included    in    the    indictment.^      But    the 
increasing  number  of  educated  men  who  enrolled 
themselves  in  the  Christian  ranks  could  not  be 
*  Ad  Autolycunif  I,  iv;  III,  iii,  6. 


330       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

thus  severed  from  the  best  thought  around  them. 
The  penetrating  criticisms  of  a  philosopher  Hke 
Celsus,  the  learning  of  the  Gnostics,  the  accepted 
methods  of  intellectual  training  in  the  universities, 
all  helped  to  compel  the  Church  to  provide  a 
higher  culture  for  those  who  were  ready  to  accept 
its  faith.  Great  schools  arose  where  BibHcal 
learning  was  eagerly  pursued,  and  at  Alexandria, 
where  so  many  influences  met,  the  task  of  provid- 
ing Christianity  with  a  philosophy  of  religion  was 
seriously  undertaken. 

The  origin  of  the  Church  in  the  city  of  the 
Ptolemies  is  unknown.  One  tradition  affirmed 
that  the  Gospel  had  been  first  preached  there  by 
Barnabas.^  The  Egyptian  Christians  apparently 
claimed  Mark  as  their  founder.  ==  In  later  times 
the  Patriarchs  of  the  see  were  elected  beside  the 
supposed  tomb  of  the  Evangelist  in  the  great 
church  of  Baucalis,  the  most  ancient  ecclesiastical 
building  in  the  city,  close  to  the  wharves  and  corn- 
magazines  of  the  busy  harbour.  ^  Two  elements 
probably  subsisted  in  the  community  side  by  side 
from  very  early  days.  The  Jewish  colony  provided 
a  large  number  of  converts,  and  as  Christianity 
spread  through  the  country  it  was  embraced  also 
by  many  native  Egyptians.  Two  corresponding 
forms  of  Gospel  were  early  in  circulation,  one 
"according  to  the  Hebrews,"  the  other  "according 
to  the  Egyptians, "  and  these  still  held  their  place 

'  Clem.  Horn.,  i,  8.  ^Euseb.,  Hist.  EccL,  II,  xvi. 

3  Bigg,  The  Christian  Platonisis  oj  Alexandria  (i886),  p.  36. 


Salvation  by  Gnosis  331 

in  current  use  at  the  end  of  the  second  century 
even  when  our  canonical  documents  had  won 
general  recognition.'  From  the  Gnostic  teachers, 
as  we  have  seen,  an  active  literature  proceeded; 
and  Panta?nus,  who  became  the  head  of  the  school 
of  catechumens  about  180  A.D.,  was  copious  in 
commentaries  on  the  Scriptures.  He  came  into 
the  Church  from  Stoicism;  and  Origen  afterwards 
justified  his  own  philosophical  studies  by  reference 
to  the  example  of  his  predecessor.''  The  young 
men  of  that  day  probably  did  as  Philo  had  de- 
scribed them  nearly  two  centuries  before.  They 
frequented  the  lecture-rooms  as  they  did  the 
theatres,  full  of  all  kinds  of  secular  interests,  their 
mercantile  adventures,  their  estates  and  rents, 
their  professions,  their  intrigues;  they  sat  on  the 
benches  as  deaf  as  statues;  or,  if  they  did  attend, 
they  forgot  what  they  had  heard  when  they  went 
away.  Only  a  few,  lamented  the  Jewish  teacher, 
were  wise  enough  like  Abraham  to  listen  to  the 
voice  of  Sarah,  the  queenly  symbol  of  philosophy.  ^ 
To  such,  who  would  study  three  or  four  years  in 
preparation  for  baptism,  the  Christian  instructor 
would  unfold  with  its  aid  the  higher  principles  of 
divine  knowledge. 

The  zeal  of  Pantsenus  led  to  his  despatch  as  a 

'  Scott-Moncrieff,  Paganism  and  Christianity  in  Egypt  (1913), 

P-55- 

'  In  Euseb.,  Hist.  EccL,  VI,  xix,  13.    Cp.  Lecture  VI. 

•>  Genes,  xvi,  3.  The  whole  allegory  is  worked  out  by  Philo  in 
the  treatise  De  Congressu  Eruditionis  Gratia.  See  xiii.  It  was 
borrowed  freely  by  Clement. 


2>2>^       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

preacher  of  the  Gospel  to  India,  ^  and  he  was 
succeeded  in  the  catechetical  school  by  Titus 
Flavius  Clemens,  who  had  been  one  of  his  hearers. 
His  Roman  name  suggests  some  possible  connec- 
tion— perhaps  through  a  freedman — with  the 
consul  Titus  Flavius  Clemens,  cousin  of  the 
Emperor  Domitian,  who  was  suddenly  executed 
in  95  A.D.  by  imperial  order.  ^  His  family,  his 
birthplace,  are  both  unknown.  Like  many  men 
of  means  with  intellectual  tastes  he  travelled 
widely.  He  studied  at  Athens,  he  sojourned  in 
Magna  Graecia,  where  he  fell  in  with  two  mission- 
aries, a  Syrian  and  an  Egyptian;  but  though  he 
tells  of  his  residence  in  South  Italy,  he  does  not 
mention  Rome.  He  passed  to  the  East,  and 
learned  from  an  Assyrian;  in  Palestine  he  studied 
under  a  converted  Jew.  Last  of  six  teachers  was 
the  "SiciHan  bee  "  whom  he  caught  in  Alexandria.  ^ 
There  he  was  ordained  a  Presbyter,  and  after  the 
departure  of  Pantaenus  he  lectured  (apparently 
in  his  own  house)  till  the  outbreak  of  persecution 
under  Severus,  when  he  left  to  visit  an  old  pupil, 
Alexander,  bishop  of  a  church  in  Cappadocia.^ 
A  long  Hst  of  works  is  attached  to  his  name,  ^  and 
his  extant  writings  contain  numerous  references 
to  books  which  he  had  written  or  intended  to 

'  So  Eusebius  and  Jerome.    It  is  uncertain  what  was  the  real 
field  of  his  activity. 

2  Cp.  Lect,  I.,  p.  3. 

3  Supposed  to  be  Pantasnus.     Strom.,  I,  i,  §  1 1  ^ 

1  He  was  afterwards  bishop  of  Jerusalem,  see  Lect.,  VI. 
s  Euseb.,  Hist.  EccL,  VI,  xiii. 


Salvation  by  Gnosis  333 

write.  Among  those  which  survive  three  stand  out 
in  pre-eminent  importance,  the  Protrepticus  or 
"Exhortation  to  the  Greeks,"  the  Pcedagogiis  or 
"Instructor,"  and  the  Stromata  or  "Gnostic  Notes 
according  to  the  True  Philosophy. ' ' '  The  first  is  a 
summons  or  challenge  to  the  unconverted.  In 
the  second  he  depicts  the  conduct  of  the  believer. 
The  third  expounds  a  higher  way  whereby  the  soul 
may  rise  from  simple  faith  to  the  true  gnosis  which 
will  enable  it  to  become  divine.  Placed  in  this 
order  they  correspond  with  curious  analogy  to 
three  stages  in  the  mysteries,  Purification,  Initia- 
tion, and  Vision  (IxoxTeu).^  Clement,  it  would 
seem,  had  himself  been  initiated  at  Eleusis;  he 
uses  the  sacred  language  without  hesitation.  The 
Protrepticus,^  written  with  concentrated  passion, 
surveys  a  vast  range  of  mythologic  lore,  and  in  its 
place  boldly  holds  up  the  figure  of  Christ  as  "our 
Mystagogue."  "O  truly  holy  mysteries!"  he 
cries.  ' '  O  stainless  light !  I  am  illumined  to  behold 
the  heavens  and  God.  I  become  holy  by  initiation. 
The  Lord  is  the  hierophant,  and  seals  the  initiate 
with  his  guiding  light,  and  he  presents  the  believer 
to  the  Father  to  be  kept  for  ever.     Such  are  the 

'  Strom.,  Ill,  xviii,  §  1 10  ad  fin.  For  recent  discussions  about  the 
order  of  the  composition  of  these  works  see  De  Fa  ye,  demerit 
d'  Alexandrie'^  (1906),  p.  340;  Patrick,  Clement  oj  Alexandria 
(1914),  p.  301;  ToUinton,  Clement  of  Alexandria  (1914)1  I.  P- 
204. 

'Strom.,  VII,  xi,  §68^. 

i  ProtrepL,  ii,  §21^;  cp.  Miss  Jane  Harrison,  Prolegomena  to  the 
Study  of  Creek  Religion,  p.  155. 


334       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

revelries  of  my  mysteries."'  For  human  salva- 
tion was  the  great  purpose  of  the  Incarnation. 
"The  Word  of  God  became  man,  that  thou  may  est 
learn  from  man  how  man  may  become  God."' 
To  trace  this  path  of  learning  is  Clement's  aim. 

He  sees  himself  in  the  midst  of  a  great  variety 
of  forces.  The  Hfe  of  the  world  around  him  is 
reflected  in  his  pages.  The  streets  of  Alexandria 
presented  a  picturesque  epitome  of  many  races; 
its  quays  and  warehouses  gathered  the  products 
of  distant  lands;  its  temples  were  the  homes  of 
native  and  foreign  deities ;  its  library  stored  up  the 
wisdom  of  many  centuries.  Wealth  and  luxury 
ran  riot  in  the  most  extravagant  forms.  A  great 
lady  would  give  ten  thousand  talents  for  a  dress  ^; 
mothers  who  exposed  their  children  would  keep 
Indian  birds  and  Median  pea-fowls^;  vast  retinues 
of  slaves  were  needed  for  the  kitchen  and  the 
toilet,  the  banquet  and  the  stable;  there  were 
silver  footbaths,  and  gold-plated  chairs.  The 
theatres  were  thronged  for  the  odious  spectacles 
of  a  debasing  mythology,  against  which  philosophy 
made  its  unavailing  protest.  Every  shade  of 
opinion  was  represented  in  the  schools,  but  there 
was  no  concord  amid  their  differences.  Poetry, 
indeed,  was  full  of  recognition  of  the  solemn  truths 
of  the  unity  of  God  and  his  creative  power;  yet 
the  impressiveness  of  such  testimony  was  lost 
when  it  was  overlaid  with  tales  of  lewdness  and 

'  ProtrepL,  xii,  §  120'.  *  Ihid.,  1,  §  8^  cp.  Lect.  I,  p.  57- 

iPcBdagog.,  II,  X,  §1154.  "  Ibid.,  Ill,  iv,  §  30'. 


Salvation  by  Gnosis  335 

brutality.  In  the  midst  of  this  welter  of  unspirit- 
ual  elements  Clement  saw  the  Church  advancing 
steadily.  The  word  of  the  Teacher  was  spread 
over  the  whole  world;  in  every  nation  and  city 
and  village  alike  of  the  Greeks  and  the  barbarians 
it  won  whole  households  to  the  truth.'  Here  was 
a  practical  test  with  which  to  meet  the  attacks  of 
the  Gnostics.  The  Catholic  Church  had  long 
preceded  their  heretical  assemblies;  the  true 
Church,  the  really  ancient,  was  one  because  God 
and  the  Lord  were  one.  The  same  unity  marked 
the  teaching  of  the  Apostles  and  the  tradition 
which  transmitted  it.  What  claim  could  Basilides 
or  Valentinus  or  Marcion  establish  against  this 
massive  harmony!  The  Church  stood  forth 
pre-eminent,  and  nothing  equalled  or  resembled  it.  * 
The  Church  on  earth,  indeed,  is  but  the  image 
of  the  heavenly  where  the  will  of  God  is  done 
unhindered.^  With  an  oft-repeated  figure  she  is 
depicted  as  the  Mother  who  draws  her  children 
to  herself.'*  The  ranks  of  bishops,  priests,  and 
deacons  are  imitations  of  angelic  splendour  5;  with 
quaint  application  of  the  Pauline  description  of 
the  last  things  he  sees  those  who  have  lived  in 
perfect  righteousness  according  to  the  gospel 
caught  up  into  the  air^  to  serve  as  deacons,  and 
then  enrolled  in  a  celestial  presbyterate,  with 
advancing  glory,  until  they  grow  into  a  perfect 

'  Strom.,  VI,  xviii,  §  1673.  » Ibid.,  VII,  xii,  §  1073-6. 

3  Ihid.,  IV,  viii,  §  66'.  *  Padagog.,  I,  v,  §  21'. 

s  Strom.,  VT,  xiii,  §  107'.  ^  I  Thess.  iv,  17. 


336       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

man.  So  did  the  ideal  brood  over  the  real.  Among 
the  treatises  which  may  never  have  been  written 
Clement  mentions  one  "On  Angels,"  a  second  on 
"The  Unity  and  Excellence  of  the  Church,"  a 
third  on  "The  Offices  of  Bishops,  Presbyters, 
Deacons,  and  Widows."  The  angelic  counterparts 
to  the  last-named  order  are  nowhere  specified 
in  his  surviving  works.  The  Church  provides  the 
starting-point  for  the  heavenly  way;  but  Clement 
is  no  formalist.  When  he  summons  the  Greeks 
it  is  to  no  ecclesiastical  fold,  but  to  the  open 
ranges  of  the  friendship  of  God.'  The  Church 
is,  indeed,  the  sphere  in  which  salvation  is  to  be 
obtained.  But  it  is  no  rigid  organization  whose 
rulers  are  concerned  to  devise  short  ways  with 
heretics  or  imbelievers.  She  is  the  genial  mother 
who  calls  her  children  to  her  and  nourishes  them 
with  holy  milk,  the  Word  for  babes.  ^ 

Salvation,  in  one  aspect,  is  defined  as  "following 
Christ."  3  But  he  must  be  sought  along  the  path 
which  he  was  the  first  to  tread.  He  was  perfected 
by  baptism  alone,  and  sanctified  by  the  descent  of 
the  Spirit.  So  close  is  the  relation  between  the 
disciple  and  his  Lord  that  the  beHever  is  perfected 
in  the  same  manner.  Like  many  mystics  Clement 
was  not  afraid  of  high  sacramental  doctrine. 
"Baptized,"   he   declares,    "we   are  illuminated; 

^  ProtrepL,  xii,  §  1223.  Dr.  Patrick  remarks  that  the  word 
Church  only  occurs  in  this  Address  in  a  quotation  from  Hebr. 
xii,  23;  Clement  of  Alex.,  p.  60. 

.,  I,  vi,  §42'.  3  7W(i.,  I,  vi,  §27'. 


Salvation  by  Gnosis  337 

illuminated,  we  are  made  sons;  made  sons,  we  are 
perfected;  perfected,  we  are  made  immortal," 
and  the  oft-quoted  text  is  added,  "I  said  that  ye 
are  gods,  and  all  sons  of  the  Most  High." '  Various 
names  are  given  to  this  operation.  It  is  a  washing, 
because  our  sins  are  cleansed  away.  It  is  a  gift, 
because  the  penalties  of  sins  are  remitted.  It  is 
illumination,  by  which  the  holy  saving  light  is 
beheld,  and  we  see  clearly  that  which  is  Divine. 
For  illumination  has  this  grace,  that  we  are  not 
the  same  after  the  laver  as  before.^  Repudiating 
the  Valentinian  distinction  between  "spirit- 
uals" and  "psychics,"  Clement  lays  it  down 
that  all  who  have  laid  aside  the  desires  of  the 
flesh  are  equal  and  spiritual  before  the  Lord.^ 
The  truly  penitent,  refined  by  baptism,  speed 
back  to  the  Eternal  Light,  as  children  to  the 
Father. 

The  immortality  conferred  by  baptism  is 
strengthened  by  the  Eucharist.  Whether  this 
was  celebrated  in  the  morning  or  was  still  con- 
nected with  the  evening  Agape,  Clement's  inter- 
preters are  not  agreed.  Similar  uncertainty  hangs 
over  his  language  about  the  sacred  food.  He 
founds  himself  on  the  Johannine  discourse  con- 
cerning the  bread  of  life.  The  heavenly  bread,  the 
flesh  of  Christ,  nourishes  the  heavenly  among  men 
up  to  incorruption.  As  usual  the  literal  and  the 
symboHc  seem  to  pass  in  and  out  of  each  other. 

I  PcEdagog.,  I,  vi,  §  26';  cp.  Lect.  I,  p.  57-     '  ibid.,  I,  vi,  §  30'. 
ilbid.,  I,  vi,  §31'. 


338       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

"Two-fold,"  he  tells  his  converts,  "is  the  blood  of 
the  Lord.    There  is  its  fleshly  element,  by  which 
we  have  been  redeemed  from  corruption,  and  there 
is  the  spiritual  by  which  we  have  been  anointed. 
To  drink  the  blood  of  Jesus  is  to  share  in  the  Lord's 
incorruption."      This    is    apparently    a    physico- 
spiritual  effect;  material  food  has  an  immaterial 
result  in  conferring  immortality  on  souls.    But  we 
are  told  directly  after  that  it  is  the  Spirit  which 
conducts  to  incorruption.     The  Eucharist,  it  is 
affirmed,  consists  of  two  things,  the  mingUng  of 
the  drink  and  the  Word.    Those  who  partake  of  it 
in  faith  are  sanctified  in  body  and  soul.    For  man 
is  himself  a  divine  mixture,  and  the  Father's  will 
mingles  it  in  mystical  fashion  with  the  Spirit  and 
the  Word."     From  such  confused  statements  no 
coherent  doctrine  can  be  disentangled.     Clement 
wrestles    with    the    cruder    interpretations   often 
current    round    about    him.      The    language    of 
mystery    is    heard    in    the    Church,    it   belongs 
naturally    to    his    own    modes  of  thought.    For 
clearness  of  definition  he  is  not  concerned.    The 
one   thing  for  which   he    passionately    cares   is 
immortality.  ^ 

This  blessed  gift  must  be  offered  to  all,  and 
Clement  dwells  at  length  upon  the  theme  of  the 
descent  of  Christ  and  the  Apostles  after  him  to 

'  Pcedagog.,  II,  il,  §  I9'^20'. 

="  He  borrows  the  phrase  of  Ignatius,  "the  medicine  of  immor- 
tality, "  but  applies  it  apparently  to  the  "gentle  word"  which  he 
offers  to  the  Greeks.    ProtrepL,  x,  §  io6^ 


Salvation  by  Gnosis  339 

preach  the  gospel  to  those  who  dwelt  in  Hades.* 
It  was  part  of  the  Saviour's  work  to  bring  Gentiles 
as  well  as  Jews  to  repentance.  Whether  they  had 
practised  the  Law  or  Philosophy  made  no  differ- 
ence. Death  could  not  close  the  possibilities  of 
deliverance,  for  God's  punishments  are  not  so 
much  retributive  as  disciphnary ;  and  the  dis- 
embodied spirit  in  Hades  may  be  even  more 
susceptible  to  the  divine  appeal,  for  when  released 
from  the  flesh  and  its  passions  the  soul  has  clearer 
vision,  and  can  the  more  quickly  repent  and  be- 
lieve. "Judgment  or  grace "  is  his  last  word  to  the 
Greeks,'  "which  will  profit  you  most?  There  is 
no  room  to  doubt  which  is  the  better.  It  is  not 
fitting  to  compare  Hfe  with  destruction."  That 
there  should  be  punishment  for  sin  is  only  just, 
but  it  is  appHed  like  the  pruning  knife  to  the  vine 
for  purposes  of  training  and  correction;  had  not 
Plato  (who  had  learned  from  ^Nloses)  rightly  taught 
that  just  punishment  made  the  soul  better?'^  The 
Greek  poets  had  announced  that  there  is  judgment 
in  Hades ;  they,  too,  had  looked  for  the  dissolution 
of  the  world  in  flame.  •*  It  is  a  hint  that  the  Church 
has  its  terrors  in  the  background,  but  they  do  not 
loom  large  in  Clement's  imagination.  Of  the 
reappearance  of  Christ  in  glory,  or  the  solemnities 
of  the  great  assize  amid  angelic  throngs,  he  never 
speaks.    With  repeated  insistence  on  human  free- 

'  Strom.,  VI,  vi,  §  44s  fl.;  II,  ix,  §  44. 

'  Protrept.,  xii,  §  I23\  ■»  Padagog.,  I,  viii,  §  67'. 

*  Strom.,  V,  .\iv,  §  121. 


340       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

dom  he  would  seem  to  leave  the  way  of  return 
always  open.'  But  there  are  doubtless  various 
ranks  of  blessedness,  corresponding  to  degrees  of 
worth.  Following  the  accepted  interpretation  of 
the  parable  of  the  Sower,  he  sees  in  the  ascending 
figures,  thirty,  sixty,  and  a  hundred,  the  promise  of 
a  scale  of  felicity  hereafter,  culminating  in  the 
perfect  inheritance  of  those  who  reach  the  image 
of  the  Lord,  the  adoption  and  friendship  of 
God.^  For  the  resurrection  of  the  body  there  is 
here  no  place.  Eternal  life  means  everlasting 
communion  with  infinite  Goodness,  Love,  and 
Truth.  3 

Such  was  in  brief  the  Christian  hope  as  Clement 
received  it  through  the  Church.  It  was  no  light 
thing  to  be  a  Christian  when  day  after  day  brought 
its  tales  of  martyrs  burnt,  impaled,  beheaded.  "• 
The  fourth  book  of  the  Stromata  contains  a  long 
discussion  which  begins  with  the  praises  of  those 
who  make  a  good  confession ;  quotes  Plato's  saying 
that  the  just  man  will  be  happy  even  on  the  rack; 
commends  women,  children,  and  slaves,  who  have 
often    devoted    themselves    against    the    will    of 

'  In  Strom.,  VII,  ii,  §  12  s,  he  seems  to  look  forward  to  a  divine 
compulsion  to  repentance  "by  necessary  chastisements  inflicted 
either  through  the  agency  of  the  attendant  angels  or  through 
various  preliminary  judgments  or  through  the  great  and  final 
judgment,  by  the  goodness  of  the  great  Judge  whose  eye  is  ever 
upon  us"  (tr.  Mayor). 

^  Ibid.,  VI,  xiv,  §  114. 

3  "The  knowledge  of  God  is  participation  in  incorruption. " 
Ihid.,  IV,  vi,  §  27^ 

4  Ibid.,  II,  XX,  §  125^ 


Salvation  by  Gnosis  341 

husband,  father,  or  master;  protests  against  BasiH- 
des'  explanation  that  such  suffering  was  the 
punishment  of  sins  committed  in  a  previous  Hfe; 
but  at  the  same  time  discourages  the  eagerness 
for  martyrdom  which  led  men  to  offer  themselves 
for  capture,  trial,  and  execution.  To  challenge 
the  persecutor  was  to  become  an  accomplice  in  his 
crime.  Christ  had  himself  laid  down  the  rule  for 
his  disciples.  "When  they  persecute  you  in  this 
city  flee  into  the  next."  The  shadow  of  death 
does  indeed  hang  over  the  Christian's  course;  but 
it  serves  to  encourage  a  grave  and  pure  simplicity 
of  life.  To  delineate  this  is  the  object  of  the 
PcEdagogus,  on  the  basis  of  the  Scriptures.  But 
behind  the  Scriptures  Clement  has  another  mighty 
influence  in  view.  How  can  you  love  God  and 
your  neighbour,  he  asks,  if  you  do  not  philoso- 
phize ?  * 

As  Clement  looked  out  on  the  forces  at  work  in 
contemporary  society,  as  he  surveyed  the  long 
story  of  Greek  culture  and  climbed  the  heights  of 
thought  with  poet  and  teacher,  as  he  realized  his 
own  personal  indebtedness  to  the  ancient  thinkers 
— especially  to  Pythagoras  and  Plato — he  could 
not  share  the  distrust  of  philosophy  felt  by  many 
simple-minded  believers.  He  must  find  a  place 
for  it  in  his  scheme  of  Providence,  and  vindicate 
its  significance  as  a  permanent  element  in  the 
Christian  life.  The  task  was  not  without  difficulty. 
The  majority  of  his  co-believers  were  afraid  of  it; 

^PcBdagog.,  Ill,  xi,  §  78'. 


342       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

did  not  faith  suffice?'  But  the  doctor,  the  athlete, 
the  mariner,  each  needed  training  and  experience; 
the  husbandman  must  employ  the  pruning-knife 
upon  the  vine.  The  Lord  had  used  that  figure  of 
himself;  and  so  the  soul,  to  which  was  addressed 
the  precept  "seek  and  ye  shall  find,"  must  be 
variously  exercised  if  it  would  reach  the  highest 
goodness.  In  a  world  made  by  the  Logos  it  was 
impossible  to  suppose  that  the  long  development 
of  Hellenic  thought  was  worthless.  There  must 
be  a  meaning  in  the  words  of  poet  and  sage  who 
had  seen  visions  of  the  unity  and  goodness  of  God. 
Here  were  truths  like  those  of  Law  and  Prophecy 
and  Psalm;  whence  were  they  derived,  how  were 
they  reached,  if  there  was  not  some  divine  power 
guiding  them  to  some  destined  end,  and  what  end 
could  that  be  but  Christ  himself? 

By  such  pleas  as  these  did  Clement  justify  his 
bold  declaration  that  the  path  of  Truth  is  one. 
Like  a  perennial  river  it  received  streams  into 
itself  from  every  quarter.  Side  by  side  with 
Israel  in  the  past  the  Greeks  had  needed  an  in- 
strument of  righteousness.  They  had  found  it  in 
philosophy.  The  Law  had  been  the  tutor  to 
bring  the  Jews  to  Christ.  Philosophy  had  fulfilled 
the  same  function  for  the  Hellenic  spirit.  It 
opened  the  way  for  being  perfected  by  Christ.^ 

'  "Bare  faith,"   ^iXtjv   tt]v  irla-riv,  Strom.,  I,  ix,  §  43'.  M.  de 
Faye   remarks   that   i/iXriv   means    "free   from   metaphysics." 
Clement  d'Alexandrie,  p.  151. 

^  Strom.,  I,  V,  §  28-29. 


Salvation  by  Gnosis  343 

Here  was  a  great  historic  generalization  which 
hghted  up  the  centuries  since  Thales  and  Hera- 
cleitus,  and  redeemed  Providence  from  the  charge 
of  partiaUty  in  the  exclusive  selection  of  the 
Hebrew  race  to  be  the  depositaries  of  the  saving 
truth.  God's  beneficence  is  without  beginning,  it 
is  bounded  neither  by  place  nor  person.'  Jews, 
Greeks,  and  Christians  are  all  gathered  into  one 
race  of  the  saved,  trained,  it  is  true,  by  different 
covenants.  Philosophy  fitting  the  ears  of  the  Greeks 
for  the  gospel  as  Law  and  Prophecy  had  prepared 
the  barbarians.  ^  Such  an  element  of  divine  train- 
ing could  not  be  lightly  cast  aside.  It  had  not 
lost  its  meaning  for  the  higher  life.  If  Christ 
himself  was  Wisdom,  if  it  was  he  who  had  worked 
in  the  prophets  and  taught  the  apostles,  the  tradi- 
tion of  the  gnosis  which  had  been  transmitted  by 
them  must  be  cherished  as  sure  and  certain.  To 
the  philosopher  who  aimed  at  the  contempla- 
tion of  reality  it  brought  the  priceless  privilege  of 
knowledge;  the  present,  the  past,  and  the  future 
were  laid  open  to  his  view ;  he  became  the  spectator 
of  eternity.^ 

Dominating  Clement's  thought  is  thus  the 
conception  of  the  timeless  and  immutable.  It  was 
as  impossible  for  him  as  for  Philo  to  read  that 
into  the  Hebrew  and  Christian  Scriptures  without 
the  aid  of  allegory.  He  borrows  from  his  predeces- 
sor the  interpretation  of  Sarah's  barrenness,  for 

'  Strofn.,  VI,  viii,  §  64'.  '  Ibid.,  VI,  v,  §  42,  44. 

iJbid.,  VI,  vii,  §61. 


344       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

Wisdom  dwelling  with  the  man  of  faith  was 
fruitless  until  the  way  had  been  prepared  by 
secular  culture  in  the  person  of  Hagar.  Not  till 
he  had  learned  by  instruction  to  contemplate 
heavenly  things  could  Abraham  advance  to  the 
faith  and  righteousness  which  God  required.* 
The  New  Testament  taught  the  same  lesson  in 
another  form.  When  the  Lord  fed  the  multitude 
with  the  two  fishes  and  the  five  barley  loaves,  he 
pointed  to  the  two  factors  which  must  be  combined 
for  the  higher  knowledge.  The  bread  was  the  food 
cultivated  under  the  law,  the  barley  grain  ripening 
quicker  than  the  wheat.  The  fishes  were  the 
symbol  of  philosophy,  born  in  the  great  ocean  of 
Hellenic  life ;  the  careful  inquirer  might  see  in  one 
the  courses  of  preliminary  study,  and  in  the  other 
advanced  philosophy.  They,  too,  shared  the 
Lord's  blessing,  and  the  power  of  the  Word 
breathed  into  them  the  divine  might  of  resurrec- 
tion. ^  By  such  devices  did  Clement  seek  to  disarm 
opposition.  The  fundamental  grandeur  of  his 
thought  rose  triumphant  above  this  learned  trifling. 
Clement  then  drav/s  from  the  same  sources  as 
Philo,  Plutarch,  or  Valentinus.  Behind  them  all 
stands  Plato,  with  his  fundamental  dualism 
between  the  seen  and  the  unseen,  the  world  of  the 
senses  and  the  world  of  ideas.  It  is  not,  however, 
Plato  the  dialectician  who  sways  Clement's 
thought.  It  is  the  theologian  who  teaches  the 
doctrines  of  the  divine  transcendence,  of  the  moral 

»  Strom.,  I,  V,  §  31.  2  iiid.^  VI,  xi,  §  94. 


Salvation  by  Gnosis  345 

order  of  the  world,  the  immortality  of  the  soul, 
the  correction  of  the  workers  of  evil  that  they  may 
be  turned  to  good.  So  far  as  human  life  and 
character  are  concerned,  the  ethical  type  is  largely 
modelled  upon  Stoic  teaching  infused  with  a  deep 
Christian  sentiment.  But  the  conception  of  God 
rises  far  above  the  materialistic  pantheism  of  the 
Anima  Mwidi.  It  is  reached  by  a  process  of  ab- 
straction (or,  as  Clement  calls  it,  "analysis").^ 
The  properties  of  external  objects  must  be  thought 
away.  Withdraw  from  any  single  body  its  dimen- 
sions in  space,  its  depth  and  breadth  and  length, 
there  still  remains  a  point  (or  monad)  related  by 
position  to  other  similar  points.  Abstract  the 
element  of  position  and  the  monad  alone  remains. 
Perform  the  same  process  on  the  whole  sum  of 
corporeal  and  incorporeal  existence,  cast  yourself 
into  the  greatness  of  Christ,  and  go  forward  thence 
into  immensity,  and  you  may  gain  some  notion 
of  the  Almighty  by  recognizing  not  what  he  is, 
but  what  he  is  not.  The  First  Cause  does  not 
exist  in  space.  He  transcends  all  space  and  time, 
all  names  and  understanding. 

As  Abraham  journeyed  to  the  place  of  which 
God  had  told  him,  on  the  third  day  he  looked  up 
and  saw  it  afar  off.  So  does  the  mind  discern 
spiritual  things  when  the  eyes  of  the  intellect  are 
opened  by  the  Teacher  who  rose  on  the  third  day 
(a  Pythagorean  harmony  of  number).  The  place 
was  seen  at  a  distance,  for  the  region  of  God  is 

^  Strom.,  V,  xi,  §  71^ 


34^       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

hard  to  comprehend.  Plato  called  it  the  region  of 
ideas,  having  learned  from  Moses  ^  that  it  was  a 
place  which  contained  the  Universe.  ^  Had  not  he 
taught  that  it  was  possible  by  reasoning  to  divine 
the  being  of  God?  "When  a  person  starts  on  the 
discovery  of  the  Absolute  by  the  light  of  reason 
only  without  any  assistance  of  sense,"  and  never 
quits  the  existing  scene  until — mounting  to  tran- 
scendental reality — "by  pure  intelligence  he  arrives 
at  the  perception  of  the  Absolute  Good,  he  at  last 
finds  himself  at  the  end  of  the  intellectual  world."  ^ 
But  how  can  he  describe  what  he  there  appre- 
hends? It  is  neither  genus,  nor  difference,  nor 
species,  nor  individual,  nor  number.  His  great- 
ness makes  him  Father  of  the  universe,  but  he  has 
no  parts.  His  unity  is  indivisible;  it  is  infinite, 
but  without  dimensions.'*  God  is  One;  and  with  a 
final  effort  to  express  his  sublime  transcendence 
Clement  declares  that  he  is  even  beyond  the  One 
and  above  the  Monad  itself.^  Abstraction  can 
proceed  no  further. 

Philosophy  might  thus  seem  to  have  done  its 
worst.  It  can  no  more  call  God  by  the  dear  name 
of  Father;  he  so  completely  transcends  the  world 
of  our  experience  that  he  must  not  be  designated 

'  Clement  held  that  Greek  philosophy  was  really  derived  from 
Hebrew  sources. 

*  In  the  Rabbinical  theology  God  was  sometimes  called  Maqdm, 
"place,"  inasmuch  as  he  contained  the  world. 

3  Strom.,  V,  xi,  §  73-74.  The  quotation  is  from  the  Republic, 
532A  (Jowett's  translation). 

*  Strom.,  V,  xii,  §  81  s.  s  Padagog.,  I,  viii,  §  71 '. 


Salvation  by  Gnosis  347 

its  Creator  or  Lord.  As  he  is  not  to  be  reached  by 
demonstration,  he  cannot  be  an  object  of  know- 
ledge.^ He  has  no  wants;  he  is  lifted  above  all 
feeling ;  neither  wrath  nor  fear  nor  desire  can  move 
him.  But  what  philosophy  takes  away,  religion 
restores.  Again  and  again  Clement  overflows 
with  holy  joy  as  he  contemplates  the  goodness  of 
God.  He  might,  indeed,  have  learned  that  faith 
from  his  teacher,  Plato.  But  he  gives  to  it  fresh 
extent  and  application.  Highly  significant  is  his 
ascription  of  it  to  the  divine  will.  It  is  more  than 
the  warmth  emitted  by  a  fire  which  cannot  choose 
but  burn.^  God  is  not  good  involuntarily  or  by 
necessity;  his  beneficence  issues  from  free  self- 
determination.  Rejecting  the  Epicurean  descrip- 
tion of  God  as  happy  and  incorruptible  but 
removed  from  all  participation  in  affairs,^  he 
affirms  that  he  is  for  ever  active  in  goodness  in 
his  own  divine  way;  it  is  no  static  quality,  it  is 
an  energy  of  purpose  that  operates  unceasingly. 
This  doctrine  is  in  fact  closely  connected  with  his 
interpretation  of  man.  The  freedom  which  he 
recognizes  in  God  he  demands  also  for  humanity. 
To  deny  it  is  to  lay  on  the  Deity  the  whole  burden 
of  the  world's  sin.  The  dignity  claimed  by  the 
Stoic  as  son  of  Zeus,  the  Gnostic  pretension  to 
community  of  nature  with  God,  are  intolerable  to 
him.    How  should  we  dare  to  call  ourselves  part  of 

I  ^'Eiri<rrr]fwviK6i,  Strom.,  IV,  xxv,  156'. 

^Ibid.,  VII,  vii,  §  42^. 

s  Ibid.,  VI,  xii,  §  104J,  cp.  Stahlin  in  loc. 


348       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

God,  or  of  the  same  substance  with  him?^  Look 
at  our  Hfe,  and  see  in  what  evils  we  are  plunged. 
If  the  parts  belong  to  the  whole,  God  must  have 
sinned  in  parts — an  impious  thought!  But  he, 
being  rich  in  mercy,  cares  for  us  in  his  goodness, 
though  we  are  no  parts  of  him,  nor  his  children  by- 
nature.  Out  of  his  love  to  man  God  comes  to  his 
help  as  the  mother-bird  flies  to  a  nestling  that  has 
fallen  out  of  the  nest.  ^  It  is  God's  everlasting  aim 
to  save  the  human  flock.  ^  He  cannot  hate  any- 
thing that  he  has  made,  and  he  must  needs  there- 
fore love  man,  the  fairest  of  all  his  creations,  a 
being  capable  of  loving  God.  Again  Clement 
dwells  on  the  purposive  character  of  God's  care. 
It  is  shown  through  the  instruction  imparted  by 
the  Word.  It  is  manifest  no  less  in  the  chastise- 
ment of  sin;  for  this  always  has  salvation  for  its 
aim.  Rebuke  is  the  medicine  of  the  divine  love  to 
man.  Each  one  who  sins,  sins  by  his  own  free  will, 
and  may  be  said  therefore  even  to  choose  punish- 
ment.'' But  Clement  cannot  rest  in  visions  of 
doom,  even  though  it  be  self -incurred.  The  sweep 
of  God's  love  embraces  all.  The  Lord  of  the 
universe  has  arranged  everything  for  the  salvation 
of  the  whole  alike  in  part  and  in  totality.  ^  Adopt- 
ing the  Philonian  interpretation  of  "  today,"  ^  the 

I  'Ofwovcriovs,  Strom.,  11,  xvi,  §  74',  cp.  ante,  p.  315. 
» Protrept.,  x,  §  91 3.  3  Ibid.,  xi,  §  116'. 

4  See  the  long  section  in  the  Pcedagog.,  I,  viii,  §  63  £E.;  it  is  a 
theme  to  which  Clement  often  returns, 
s  Strom.,  VII,  ii,  §  I2^ 
*  "  Today  if  ye  will  hear  his  voice, "  Protrept.,  ix,  §  84*. 


Salvation  by  Gnosis  349 

real  today,  the  unending  day  of  God  which  lasts 
for  ever,  he  opens  the  way  for  repentance  after 
death.  He  provides  for  the  encompassing  of  the 
wayward  soul  with  all  kinds  of  divine  graces  and 
invitations,  and  sooner  than  risk  the  sinner's 
choice  of  eternal  alienation  from  his  Maker,  he 
surrenders  his  fundamental  principle  of  free-will 
and  looks  for  necessary  chastisements  by  the 
goodness  of  the  great  all-seeing  Judge  which  will 
constrain  the  most  hardened  sinners  to  repent.  ^ 

What,  then,  is  the  mediating  agency  between 
the  metaphysical  Monad,  beyond  all  space  and 
time,  and  the  humanity  which  is  the  perpetual 
object  of  God's  saving  love?  Between  Deity  and 
the  universe  Plato  could  interpose  a  World-Soul. 
Plutarch  could  call  the  nobler  Daimons  to  the 
service  of  his  Transcendent  One.  The  Gnostics 
had  traced  the  gradual  descent  of  divine  energies 
from  the  Absolute  down  to  the  Creator  of  this 
material  scene.  For  Clement  the  necessary  step 
was  provided  by  the  Philonic  and  Johannine  Word. 
Clement  was  less  concerned,  however,  to  explain 
the  universe  than  to  provide  for  man.  His  interest 
is  not  so  much  cosmologic  as  religious.  Many 
quaint  touches  from  the  observation  of  nature 
brighten  his  pages;  but  he  can  take  the  world  for 
granted,  if  he  can  establish  the  true  principles  of 
the  divine  dealings  with  man.  To  Philo's  Logos 
he  therefore  adds  the  Christ  of  the  Gospels,  and 
the  first  serious  attempt  is  made  from  the  side  of 

'  Strom.,  VII,  ii,  §  I2  5,  cp.  xii,  §  76,  78^;  ante,  p.  340. 


350       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

philosophical  theology  to  define  the  function  of 
the  Word  within  the  Godhead.  In  Johannine 
language  the  Word  is  the  Son;  and  while  the 
Absolute  is  indemonstrable  and  hence  cannot  be 
the  object  of  knowledge,  the  Son  is  capable  of 
demonstration  and  definition.  All  the  powers  of 
the  divine  Spirit  are  gathered  into  him,  and  as 
regards  each  one  he  is  infinite.  He  is  not  indeed 
distributed  into  parts,  he  is  the  unity  of  the  whole. 
He  is  the  Circle  of  which  God  is  the  Centre,  and 
all  the  powers  are  orbed  and  unified  in  him. '  "He 
is  the  ideal  Many,  the  Mind  of  which  the  Father 
is  the  principle  of  identity.  He  is,  in  fact,  the 
consciousness  of  God." "  And  this  has  its  dynamic 
as  well  as  its  intellectual  side;  the  Son  or  Word  is 
at  the  same  time  the  Arm  of  the  Lord,  the  Power 
of  the  world,  the  Father's  Will.^ 

Viewed  in  relation  to  humanity  the  function  of 
the  Word  maybe  summed  up  in  his  title  "Saviour." 
Nearest  to  him  who  alone  is  Almighty,  he  orders 
all  things  according  to  the  Father's  will,  needing 
not  to  pass  from  place  to  place,  for  he  is  always 
present  everywhere  but  contained  nowhere.    He  is 

I  Strom.,  IV,  XXV,  156^ 

'  Bigg,  Christian  Platonists,  p.  64.  Dr.  Bigg  thinks  that  Cle- 
ment may  have  drawn  the  doctrine  of  the  Absolute  God  through 
Basilides  or  Valentinus  from  Aristotle.  "The  conception  of  the 
Son  as  the  Father's  complement,  the  roijcrts  which  the  Father 
voei,  is  not,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  to  be  found  in  any  Gnostic 
writer."  The  distinction  is  analogous  to  that  between  Brahma 
(neut.)  and  Brahma  (masc.)  in  Hindu  philosophy,  which  does  not, 
however,  employ  the  categories  of  Father  and  Son. 

iProtrept.,  xii,  §  120";  cp.  ivipyeM,  Strom.,  VII,  ii,  §  7^' 


Salvation  by  Gnosis  351 

thus  the  great  agent  of  God's  purpose  of  salvation, 
and  Hnks  all  ranks  of  intelligent  beings  in  the 
vast  design.  Subject  to  him  is  the  host  of  angels 
and  gods,  and  to  him  belong  all  men  also,  some  by- 
knowledge  but  others  not  yet  so,  some  as  friends, 
others  only  as  servants.'  Timeless  indeed  he  is  in 
relation  to  God,  for  God  cannot  be  Father  without 
a  Son.^  But  as  the  head  of  the  angelic  hierarchy 
he  presides  over  the  course  of  history,  and  through 
the  gradations  of  rational  minds  he  condescends 
to  be  the  instructor  of  mankind.  Like  a  chain  of 
iron  rings  whose  farthest  particles  are  held  together 
by  a  magnet,  so  from  man  up  to  the  great  High- 
Priest  and  from  him  down  through  angels  and 
every  stage  of  virtuous  attainment  back  to  man, 
runs  the  attraction  of  the  Spirit,  uniting  in  one 
process  those  who  are  saved  and  those  who  save.^ 
Of  all  this  the  Word  was  the  source.  To  Israel  he 
gave  the  Law;  to  the  Greeks  philosophy  by  in- 
ferior angels'';  and  thus  by  different  paths  of 
advance  led  both  to  the  perfection  which  is  won 
by  faith,  s  Thus  was  the  education  of  the  world 
(as  Clement  knew  it)  brought  to  the  point  when  it 
must  be  completed  by  the  appearance  of  the  Word 
in  human  flesh. 

The  Incarnation  is  thus  viewed  as  the  supreme 
agency  of  revelation.  Christ  is  pre-eminently  the 
Teacher,  and  it  is  under  his  instruction  that  man 

'  Strom.,  VII,  ii,  §  5«.  '  Ibid.,  V,  i,  §  i^. 

3  Ihid.,  VII,  ii,  §  93.  ■•  Ibid.,  VII,  ii,  §  6^ 

sibid.,  VII,  ii,  §11^ 


352       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

will  reach  the  goal  of  his  being  and  become  divine.' 
In  this  character  it  was  not  needful  for  him  to 
undergo  all  the  distresses  of  our  mortal  frame.  The 
fluctuations  of  appetite  and  desire,  the  vicissitudes 
of  feeling  and  emotion — from  these  he  was  exempt. ' 
True,  he  ate  and  drank,  to  conform  to  ordinary 
usage;  and  thus  anticipated  the  Docetic  heresy; 
but  he  transcended  all  movements  of  pleasure  and 
pain.^  When  he  rose  after  his  burial,  he  had  not 
suffered.  "^  The  Passion,  therefore,  does  not  fill  the 
centre  of  Clement's  thought.  It  is  true  that  he 
describes  the  faithful  as  redeemed  ("ransomed") 
from  corruption  by  the  Lord's  blood.  ^  Christ 
gave  himself  as  a  ransom,  but  to  whom  the  debt 
was  paid  is  not  clear.  ^  He  consecrated  himself, 
and  we  ought  also  to  consecrate  ourselves'  by 
rising  ever  higher  above  material  wants  and 
passions.  God  has  no  need  of  anything,  he  is 
without  wants  (the  Stoic  doctrine),  and  hence  the 
Christian  offers  no  sacrifices  to  him.  The  work 
of  Christ  is  really  independent  of  the  cross.  In 
the  midst  of  a  long  refutation  of  the  view  of  Basili- 
des  that  martyrdom  was  the  penalty  of  sin 
committed  in  an  earlier  existence,  or  else  God  was 
unjust,  Clement  interjects  a  parallel  in  the  death 
of  Christ.*    God  does  not  will  the  sufferings  of  the 

'  ProtrepL,  i,  §  S".  »  Pczdagog.,  I,  ii,  §  4'. 

3  Strom.,  VI,  ix,  §  71 '-«.  ^  Pcedagog.,  I,  v,  §  23 ^ 

s  Ibid.  *  Quis  Dives  salvelur,  37'',  cp.  42'^. 

">  Strom.,  VII,  iii,  §  145,  Upevdivra.  .   .   .   iepeiovrei. 
»Ibid.,  IV,  xii,  §  86^ 


Salvation  by  Gnosis  353 

persecuted,  any  more  than  he  willed  the  crucifixion 
of  his  own  Son.  Christ  was  not  sent  into  the  world 
to  die;  that  was  no  part  of  the  economy  of  grace; 
it  was  the  act  of  evil  men  with  which  God  simply 
did  not  interfere.  Judged  in  the  light  of  human 
freedom,  the  event  might  not  have  happened.  In 
other  words  it  was  not  essential  to  salvation.  The 
true  Gnostic  might  have  attained  the  goal  without 
it.  But  who  was  the  true  Gnostic  and  what  was 
the  goal  ?  It  was  really  to  answer  these  questions 
that  the  Stromata  were  written. 

Surrounded  by  a  variety  of  types  of  Gnostic 
teaching  which  professed  to  impart  true  knowledge 
of  God  and  man,  Clement  sought  to  establish 
that  claim  for  the  Church.'  With  the  tempera- 
ment of  a  mystic,  a  profound  conviction  of  the 
value  of  Greek  philosophy,  and  a  vivid  remem- 
brance of  the  rapture  of  initiation  at  Eleusis,^  he 
endeavoured  to  provide  Christianity  with  a  path 
of  higher  wisdom  founded  on  the  believer's  faith 
and  leading  to  the  highest  stage  of  mystic  vision 
(exoTCTsfa).  This  was  the  way  of  Gnosis.  It  was 
the  ascent  through  knowledge  and  love  in  fellow- 
ship with  Christ  up  to  the  very  presence  of  God 
himself.  It  had  a  scientific  character  in  the  in- 
vestigation of  the  First  Cause,  and  the  constitution 
of  the  universe.    It  had  an  ethical  character,  for  it 

'  Strom.,  VII,  xvii,  §  106-108. 

'  In  the  ProtrepL,  ii,  §  12  ff.,  he  can  denounce  the  abominations 
of  the  various  mysteries;  but  they  left  many  traces  on  his  lan- 
guage; cp.  Mayor,  in  Hort  and  Mayor,  Clement  of  Alexandria, 
Miscellanies,  VII  (1902),  p.  Iv. 
23 


354       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

involved  the  study  of  man,  his  nature  and  powers, 
his  vices  and  virtues.  But  its  supreme  aim  was 
religious,  for  it  bore  the  soiil  from  stage  to  stage 
of  growing  light  till  it  could  gaze  upon  God  "face 
to  face"  with  understanding  and  absolute  cer- 
tainty.^ Like  the  leaders  of  the  sects,  Clement 
professes  to  receive  it  as  a  tradition  taught  by 
Christ  to  the  apostles^;  but  his  repeated  defences 
of  philosophy  imply  that  he  is  conscious  that  he  is 
introducing  a  new  element  into  Christian  teaching, 
and  reinterpreting  its  main  conceptions.  The  pro- 
cess had  been  begun  when  the  "spiritual  gospel" 
had  been  written  by  John.^  Clement  is  the  first 
theologian  really  to  secure  its  development  within 
the  Church. 

The  power  to  climb  these  heights  is  not,  how- 
ever, given  to  all.  Though  humanity  is  not  to  be 
distributed  (with  the  Valentinians)  into  groups  in 
virtue  of  original  differences  of  constitution, 
Clement  nevertheless  recognizes  that  there  is  a 
kind  of  election  to  knowledge.''  There  are  diver- 
sities of  ability  to  apprehend  the  truth,  and  there 
are  diversities  in  the  will  to  seek  it.  The  rise  of  the 
soul  towards  the  realms  of  light  may  always  be 
interpreted  in  two  ways.  Those  who  have  lived 
in  purity  and  reached  the  conception  of  the  blessed 

'  Strom.,  VII,  iii,  §  1 7 ;  x,  §  56-57,  "  and  the  name  of  gods  is  given 
to  those  who  shall  hereafter  be  enthroned  with  the  other  gods." 

''Ibid.,  VI,  vii,  §61',  I,  i,  §11 3. 

3  See  the  extract  from  Clement's  Hy polyposes  in  Euseb.,  Hist, 
EccL,  VI,  xiv,  7. 

'^  Strom.,  VII,  i,  §  2  3. 


Salvation  by  Gnosis  355 

and  incorruptible  nature,  ma^^  have  been  drawn 
thither  by  the  Father;  on  the  other  hand,  the 
energy  of  free-will  on  reaching  the  knowledge  of 
the  good  may  (in  gymnastic  language)  have  leaped 
the  barriers.  Clement  will  not  definitely  decide; 
but  in  his  heart  he  knows  that  the  soul  which  soars 
upward  owes  its  wings  to  special  grace.'  That 
is  the  language  of  religion;  it  is  Clement's  form  of 
St.  Paul's  warning  that  man  must  work  out  what 
God  first  works  within  him.  It  is,  accordingly,  to 
the  self-discipline  of  the  true  Gnostic  that  Clement 
invites  his  readers.  If  he  has  brought  the  theology 
of  Plato  into  the  Church,  he  will  now  introduce 
the  ethics  of  the  Porch.  On  one  side  the  picture 
is  not  attractive:  the  Stoic  virtues  do  not  har- 
monize well  with  the  portrait  in  the  Gospels;  the 
philosopher's  "apathy,"  his  elevation  above  all 
vicissitudes  of  feeling  or  desire,^  his  "ataraxy" 
or  unshaken  calm  in  the  midst  of  troubles  and 
dangers,  3  imply  a  rigidity  of  attitude  towards 
external  conditions  and  events  which  can  only  be 
attained  by  the  prolonged  concentration  of  the 
Gnostic  on  himself.  But  there  is  another  aspect 
of  this  strenuous  discipline.  From  faith  the  seeker 
of  the  truth  may  rise  to  knowledge ;  from  knowledge 
he  must  go  on  to  love.  And  this  will  prompt  alike 
the  service  of  God  and  the  service  of  man.  The 
contemplation  which  he  has  attained  himself  he 
must  impart  to  others;  he  cannot  be  indifferent 

'  Strom.,  V,  xiii,  §  83'.  '  Ibid.,  VI,  ix,  §  71  S. 

3  Ibid.,  IV,  vii,  §  55^. 


356       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

to  their  welfare.  Like  the  presbyters  and  deacons 
in  the  Church  on  earth,  Hke  the  ministering  angels 
and  the  "gods"  in  the  spiritual  Church  above,  nay- 
like  the  Word  himself,  the  constant  companion  of 
the  aspiring  soul,  he  must  be  ever  active  in  the 
work  of  salvation.  ^  So  is  the  whole  world  bound 
together  by  one  mighty  chain  of  influences  for 
teaching  man  how  to  become  divine.  ^ 

"God-borne"  and  "God-bearing"  the  Gnostic 
untiringly  aspires;  he  is  the  shrine  of  his  Saviour, 
the  temple  of  the  Spirit,  already  holy  and  divine.  ^ 
Diverse  are  the  mansions  in  the  home  above,  in 
threefold  order  to  match  the  sower's  grain.  "*  The 
Gnostic  aims  at  no  special  place,  he  seeks  no 
recompense  for  his  endeavours.  But  as  he  grows 
in  likeness  to  his  heavenly  Lord  he  wins  the  name 
of  friend  of  God,  and  is  ranked  and  reckoned  as  a 
Son.  Reaching  the  crowning  height  of  direct 
vision  (Ixoxteta)  he  becomes  wholly  spiritual, 
and  departs  to  his  kindred  sphere,  there,  in  the 
spiritual  Church,  to  rest  in  God.^  So  glorious  is 
this  consummation  that  in  a  famous  passage 
Clement  ardently  declares  that  "if  anyone  could 
set  before  the  Gnostic  the  choice  between  the 
knowledge  of  God  or  everlasting  salvation  (as  if 
they  were  separable,  though  of  course  they  are 
really  the  same),  without  the  smallest  hesitation 
'  He  will  even  pray  to  share  in  the  sins  {i.e.,  the  punishment) 
of  the  brethren,  Strom.,  VII,  xii,  §  80'. 

2  Cp.  Strom.,  VII,  i,  §  3-5;  iii,  §  13. 

3  Ibid.,  VII,  xiii,  §  82  ^  iii,  §  i6s. 

4  Ibid.,  VI,  xiv,  §  1143.  s  Ibid.,  VII,  xi,  §  68s. 


Salvation  by  Gnosis  357 

he  would  choose  the  knowledge  of  God,  judging 
that  peculiar  character  of  faith  which  ascends 
through  love  to  knowledge  preferable  for  its  own 
sake."'  In  such  vision  present,  past,  and  future 
are  unfolded  to  him : 

"While  with  an  eye  made  quiet  by  the  power 
Of  harmony,  and  the  deep  power  of  joy, " 
He  sees  "  into  the  life  of  things." 

'  Strom.,  IV,  xxii,  §  1365. 


LECTURE  VI 

CHRISTIANITY  AT  THE  PARTING  OF  THE  WAYS 

AT  the  opening  of  the  third  century  of  our  era 
the  future  destinies  of  Christianity  in  the 
basin  of  the  Mediterranean  were  being  shaped  in 
three  great  cities,  Rome,  Alexandria,  and  Car- 
thage. The  Church  in  the  imperial  city  was  the 
heir  of  the  apostolic  traditions  of  Peter  and  Paul. 
In  numbers  and  wealth  it  stood  pre-eminent,  and 
its  religious  practice  was  naturally  an  admired 
model.  So  great  was  its  influence  that  every  new 
movement  must  seek  its  support,  and  represent- 
atives of  all  opinions  travelled  thither  to  win  a 
hearing.  It  created  no  great  theological  school, 
but  it  was  again  and  again  to  utter  the  deciding 
word  in  controversy.  It  entered  into  an  inherit- 
ance that  stretched  far  beyond  its  own  history. 
The  Genius  of  Rome  brooded  over  it,  and  the  vast 
multitude  of  energies  which  Tertullian  summed  up 
under  the  one  word  Romanitas  nourished  its  life 
and  guided  its  development. 

Christianity  at  Carthage  springs  suddenly  into 
view  in  the  writings  of  Tertullian.  Of  its  origin 
nothing  is  known,  but  his  pages  reflect  its  struggles 
and  triumphs  in  the  hot  eager  atmosphere  of  trade 

358 


_!1 


At  the  Parting  of  the  W^iys      359 

and  pleasure  which  made  rehgion  Uke  every  other 
activity  full  of  passion.  Closely  connected  with 
Rome  by  ties  of  language  and  commerce,  Car- 
thage shared  the  Latin  genius  for  order  and  law, 
rather  than  the  Greek  for  philosophic  thought  and 
intellectual  freedom.  The  two  great  personalities 
of  its  church,  Tertullian  and  Cyprian,  had  both 
been  trained  as  jurists,  and  carried  the  conceptions 
of  legalism  into  the  ecclesiastical  sphere.  Tertul- 
lian, indeed,  was  led  by  personal  reaction  against 
grave  moral  abuse  into  a  position  of  solitary  with- 
drawal. But  his  writings  were  a  store  of  power. 
"Da  magistrum/'  Cyprian  would  say  to  his  secre- 
tary, as  he  sought  to  reinforce  the  energy  of  rule 
which  lifted  the  episcopate  into  the  control  of  the 
Church. 

Alexandria,  on  the  other  hand,  under  the  guid- 
ance of  Clement  and  his  successor  Origen,  became 
the  chief  centre  of  Christian  thought.  It  has  been 
said  of  Origen  that  he  was  "the  first  great  scholar, 
the  first  great  preacher,  the  first  great  devotional 
writer,  the  first  great  commentator,  the  first 
great  dogmatist,  but  he  was  nothing  else." '  There 
is  a  strange  omission  in  this  list  of  functions.  Ori- 
gen was  perhaps  greatest  of  all  as  a  teacher.  His 
career  covered  a  long  period,  seventy  years  save 
one,  says  Eusebius,^  and  illustrates  many  phases 
of  Church  life  and  activity.  Its  incidents  may  be 
gathered  partly  from  scattered  references  in  his 

'Bigg,  The  Christian  Platonists  of  Alexandria  (1886),  p.  115. 
'Hist.  EccL,  VII,  i.     For  the  chief  facts  see  VI,  i-xxxix. 


360       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

own  works,  partly  from  the  narrative  of  Eusebius, 
who  collected  more  than  a  hundred  of  his  letters, 
with  a  few  additional  details  in  other  sources. 
Some  of  the  occurrences  will  always  remain  ob- 
scure. Nearly  all  his  correspondence,  like  much  of 
his  literary  work,  has  perished.  He  drew  to  him- 
self enthusiastic  devotion,  he  also  aroused  bitter 
enmity.  He  laid  the  foundation  on  which  Athana- 
sius  might  build,  but  he  suffered  under  the  impu- 
tation of  heresy.  The  defences  of  his  friends  have 
disappeared,  but  modern  theologians  have  not  been 
slow  to  vindicate  his  memory.  "I  love  the  name 
of  Origen,"  wrote  John  Henry  Newman,  "I  will 
not  listen  to  the  notion  that  so  great  a  soul  was 
lost."'  "His  whole  life,"  said  Canon  Westcott, 
"was,  according  to  his  own  grand  ideal,  'one 
unbroken  prayer'  (jxla  xpoasu^Y]  ouvexo^xIvY)),  one 
ceaseless  effort  after  close  fellowship  with  the  Un- 
seen and  the  Eternal. "  ^ 

Born  in  the  year  185-6,  most  probably  in 
Alexandria,  he  was  the  eldest  of  seven  sons.  The 
Greek  name  of  his  father,  Leonides,  points  to 
possible  Greek  descent;  while  the  interpretation 
of  his  own  name,  "Child  of  Hor,"  the  god  of 
Light,  suggests  a  no  less  possible  Egyptian  nation- 
ality. From  his  childhood  he  was  instructed  in 
the    Scriptures,    and    his    eager    questions    often 

'  Quoted  by  Farrar,  Lives  of  the  Fathers  (ed.  1907),  vol.  i,  p.  431, 
from  History  oftheArians  (?.e.,  presumably  the  Arians  of  the  Fourth 
Century,  1832).     I  have  been  unable  to  find  the  passage. 

2  Contemp.  Review,  xxxv  (1879),  p.  329.     Cp.  Farrar,  op.  cit. 


At  the  Parting  of  the  Ways      361 

puzzled  his  father,  who  would  stand  by  the  sleep- 
ing boy  and  kiss  his  breast  as  a  veritable  sanctuary 
of  the  Spirit.  He  passed  through  the  usual 
studies  preparatory  to  a  university  career,  gram- 
mar {i.e.,  Hterature),  mathematics,  logic,  and 
rhetoric,  and  naturally  came  under  the  teaching 
of  Clement,  in  whose  catechetical  school  he  formed 
an  early  friendship  with  Alexander,  afterwards 
bishop  of  Jerusalem. '  When  the  persecution 
under  Severus  broke  out,  Leonides  was  impris- 
oned, and  his  eldest  son  longed  to  share  his  ap- 
proaching martyrdom.  The  anxious  mother  hid 
his  clothes,  and  thus  compelled  him  to  remain 
at  home,  so  that  the  eager  youth  was  obliged 
to  confine  himself  to  exhortation.  "Hold  on," 
he  wrote  to  his  father,  "on  no  account  change  your 
mind  for  our  sakes."  Leonides  was  beheaded, 
the  family  property  was  confiscated,  the  mother 
and  brothers  were  probably  assisted  from  the 
Church  funds  and  disappear  from  the  story, 
and  Origen  was  received  into  the  house  of  a 
wealthy  Christian  lady.  As  soon  as  he  could 
he  made  himself  independent  by  teaching,  and 
after  Clement  had  withdrawn  from  risk  of 
arrest  Origen  was  appointed  his  successor  in 
the  catechetical  school.  He  was  only  in  his 
eighteenth  year. 

The  post  was  not  free  from  danger.     His  first 
convert  Plutarch,  and  at  least  five  others  of  his 

'  Who  wrote  to  him  as  "  the  best  in  everything,  my  master  and 
brother,"  Euseb.,  Hist.  EccL,  VI,  xiv,  9. 


362       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

pupils,  perished.     To  the  martyrs,  whether  among 
his  friends  or  strangers,  he  devoted  himself  with 
great   courage.     He  visited   them  in   prison,   he 
stood  beside  them  in  court,  he  kissed  them  on  the 
way  to  execution,  and  narrowly  escaped  stoning  in 
the  streets.     It  is  difficult  to  understand  how  in 
this  publicity  he  was  himself  free  from  arrest;  he 
is  said   to   have  baffled   the   poUce  by  frequent 
changes  of  lodging.     The  terror  passed,  but  the 
enthusiasm   generated   by   the   storm   remained. 
By  way  of  protest  against  the  extravagant  luxury 
of  the  city  Origen  adopted  a  life  of  strenuous  self- 
denial.     He  ate  no  meat  and  drank  no  wine;  he 
fasted  by  day  and  watched  by  night;  he  walked 
barefoot  and  slept   on  the  floor.  ^     He  sold  the 
library  which  he  had  laboriously  accumulated  for  a 
small  pittance  of  four  obols  (about  sixpence)  a  day, 
which  relieved  him  of  the  necessity  of  taking  fees. 
Along  with  his  teaching  he  continued  his  studies. 
He  acquired  some  knowledge  of  Hebrew  from  a 
Rabbi;    he    attended    the   lectures    of   the   Neo- 
Platonist  Ammonius  Sakkas"*  who  was  said  to  have 
once  carried  a  porter's  knot  on  the  quays  in  the 
harbour;  he  read  widely  in  philosophy;  he  was 
continually  studying  Plato,  says  Porphyry,  who 
describes  his  acquaintance  with  the  works  of  the 

'  On  the  much  discussed  story  of  his  making  himself  a  eunuch 
for  the  kingdom  of  heaven's  sake  {Matt,  xix,  12),  see  Farrar, 
Lives  of  the  Fathers,  i,  pp.  398-401. 

^'This  is  the  statement  of  Porphyry,  a  younger  contemporary 
of  Origen,  233-305  A.D.,  but  it  has  been  argued  that  he  confused 
the  young  Christian  with  some  other  Origen. 


At  the  Parting  of  the  Ways      363 

Platonists,  Pythagoreans,  and  Stoics.'  He  was 
really,  according  to  his  critic,  Greek  in  thought; 
pity  that  he  was  wrecked  on  the  barbarian  ven- 
ture! In  after  years  Origen  defended  himself  by 
the  example  of  Pantasnus  and  that  of  his  own  pupil 
Heraclas,  ^  who  became  presbyter  at  Alexandria 
and  assistant  in  the  catechetical  school,  and  still 
wore  the  philosopher's  cloak.  ^  Yet  later  in  his 
treatise  on  the  "True  Word"  of  Celsus,  composed 
after  he  was  sixty  years  of  age,  he  referred  to  his 
persistent  pursuit  of  truth;  he  had  visited  many 
lands,  and  had  everywhere  sought  out  those  who 
professed  to  have  any  knowledge.'* 

Origen  did,  indeed,  travel  widely,  "Longing  to 
see  the  most  ancient  church  of  Rome,  "  as  he  some- 
where wrote,  he  visited  it  during  the  episcopate  of 
Zephyrinus.5  After  his  return  he  was  sent  into 
Arabia  in  response  to  a  request  from  the  governor 
addressed  to  bishop  Demetrius  and  the  prefect 
of  Egypt.  The  fury  of  Caracalla  in  2 1 6,  in  revenge 
for  some  insulting  verses  on  the  murder  of  his 
brother  Geta,  endangered  especially  the  men  of 
learning  and  letters,  and  Origen,  who  had  been 
safely  escorted  back  to  his  own  city,  withdrew  to 

'Euseb.,  Hist.  EccL,  VI,  xix,  7-8. 

*  Brother  of  his  first  convert  Plutarch. 

3lbid.,  VI,  xix,  13-14. 

*Contr.  Cels.fVI,  xxiv.  The  statement  primarily  concerns 
a  certain  Gnostic  diagram,  but  may  certainly  be  interpreted 
in  a  wider  scope. 

sThe  date  is  uncertain;  probably  about  213.  Eusch.,  Hist. 
EccL,  VI,  xiv,  10. 


364       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

C^sarea.  There  he  was  welcomed  by  the  bishop 
Theoctistus,  and  his  old  classmate  Alexander, 
now  installed  in  Jerusalem.  Though  he  was  still 
a  layman  they  invited  him  to  preach,  and  he 
expounded  the  Scriptures  in  the  service  of  the 
Church.  The  incident  was  reported  at  Alexandria, 
and  Demetrius  chose  to  regard  it  as  a  violation 
of  all  ecclesiastical  propriety.  He  wrote  angrily 
to  the  bishops,  and  was  not  to  be  appeased  by 
the  precedents  which  they  quoted  in  reply.  Ori- 
gen  quietly  obeyed  the  summons  to  return,  and 
resumed  his  place  at  the  head  of  the  catechetical 
school. 

With  indefatigable  labour  he  taught  to  the  less 
advanced  the  secular  discipHnes  which  he  had 
himself  learned  from  his  father.  To  those  who 
sought  the  higher  knowledge  he  lectured  on  the 
different  systems  of  philosophy.  His  wide  range 
of  attainment,  his  sympathetic  exposition,  his 
impartiality  and  love  of  truth,  drew  round  him 
students  who  made  no  profession  of  Christianity, 
and  others  who  belonged  to  different  heretical 
schools.  Among  these  latter  was  a  wealthy 
Valentinian  named  Ambrosius,'  who  became 
deeply  interested  in  Origen's  expositions  of  the 
Scriptures.  He  urged  the  teacher  to  give  to  the 
world  the  results  of  the  labours  in  which  he  had 
been  so  long  engaged.  The  cost  of  composition 
threatened  to  prove  a  serious  difficulty;  Origen 

'So  Euseb.,    Hist.    Eccl.,  VI,   xvii.     Jerome  makes  him  a 
Marcionite. 


At  the  Parting  of  the  Ways      365 

was  too  poor  to  buy  writing  materials  or  employ  a 
secretary.  Ambrose  therefore  provided  a  stajff 
of  seven  shorthand  writers  who  succeeded  each 
other  at  regular  intervals,  and  as  many  more 
copyists,  together  with  young  women  skilled  in 
calligraphy.  The  labour  thus  imposed  upon  him 
was  severe.  Origen  playfully  called  his  friend  his 
"taskmaster,"'  and  lamented  that  his  toil  left 
him  no  time  for  supper,  or  after  supper  for  exercise 
or  rest.  Far  into  the  evening  they  conversed  and 
he  dictated,  and  in  the  morning  he  was  at  work 
betimes.  The  first-fruits  of  this  method  was  the 
commentary  on  the  Gospel  according  to  John,  of 
which  only  portions  have  survived.  The  quali- 
fication demanded  of  the  interpreter  was  stringent. 
"No  one,"  he  said,  "can  understand  its  meaning 
unless  he  has  reclined  on  Jesus'  breast  and  received 
from  him  Mary  to  be  his  mother  also. "  ^ 

Origen  was  thus  launched  on  the  long  series  of 
works  which  he  devoted  to  the  exposition  of  the 
Scriptures.  The  same  aid  was  available  for  his 
critical  labours  on  the  Greek  text  of  both  Testa- 
ments, ^  and  for  the  treatise  on  "First  Principles" 

'  'EpvoStwKTijs,  as  in  the  LXX,  Exod.  iii,  7  (R.  V.  8). 

^In  Joann.,  i,  ^2t,;  Wcrke,  iv  (ed.  Prcuschen,  1903),  p.  9  '*. 

3  His  famous  work  on  the  Greek  text  of  the  Old  Testament, 
known  as  the  Hexapla,  occupied  him  altogether  more  than  twenty 
years.  Beside  the  Hebrew  text  he  placed  the  various  Greek  ver- 
sions, Christian  and  Jewish,  in  parallel  columns.  The  work 
was  enormously  bulky;  it  was  long  preserved  in  the  library  at 
Csesarea,  and  used  by  scholars,  who  copied  the  recension  of  the 
Scptuagint  in  the  fifth  column,  as  well  as  other  passages. 


366       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

(xepl  'Apxwv),  written  while  he  was  still  at 
Alexandria,  the  first  great  systematic  view  of 
Christian  theology.  Whether  or  not  his  daring 
speculations  aroused  episcopal  alarm,  it  is  difficult 
to  determine.  The  incidents  which  led  him  to 
leave  his  post  in  Egypt  are  obscure.  In  response 
to  a  summons  to  Greece^  on  some  church  business 
he  undertook  a  journey  to  Achaia,  and  on  his  way 
he  stopped  at  Cassarea.  There  his  friends  Theoctis- 
tus  and  Alexander — perhaps  (as  has  been  suggest- 
ed) to  secure  him  the  unchallenged  right  to  preach 
— ordained  him  presbyter.  Unconscious  of  any 
violation  of  ecclesiastical  order,  he  travelled  on, 
and  fulfilled  his  mission.  =*  But  the  aged  Demetrius 
was  stirred  to  vehement  anger.  Clerical  suspicion 
had  been  already  roused,  and  Origen's  bold  high- 
soaring  thoughts  had  drawn  upon  him  the  repu- 
tation for  heterodoxy.  Letters  were  circulated 
with  accusations  not  only  against  Origen  himself 
but  also  against  the  bishops  of  Caesarea  and 
Jerusalem.  A  synod  of  suffragan  bishops  and 
presbyters  forbade  him  to  teach  again  in  Alex- 
andria; and  Demetrius,  not  content  with  deposing 
him  from  his  headship  of  the  catechetical  school, 
summoned  a  small  committee  of  three  suffragans 
and   excommunicated   him.     He   was    of   course 

'Usually  placed  in  228  a.d.,  but  see  McGififert's  note  to  his 
translation  of  Euseb.,  Hist.  EccL,  pp.  395-7- 

^It  was  perhaps  on  this  journey  that  he  found  part  of  an 
unknown  translation  of  the  Old  Testament  at  Nicopolis  in 
Epirus;  just  as  on  another  journey  he  discovered  a  diiTerent 
fragment  in  a  jar  at  Jericho.     Euseb. ,  Hist.  EccL,  VI,  xvi,  2-3. 


At  the  Parting  of  the  Ways      367 

never  heard  in  his  own  defence.  Demetrius 
obtained  the  support  of  Rome,  but  Arabia,  Pales- 
tine, Phoenicia,  Asia  Minor,  Greece,  were  loyal 
to  the  great  teacher  on  whom  was  bestowed  the 
imusual  title  of  "  Master  of  the  Churches. " ' 

Driven  from  Alexandria  Origen  made  his  home 
in  Caesarea,  where  his  friend  Ambrose  joined 
him,  and  resumed  his  former  labours.  His  fame 
as  a  theologian  and  his  skill  as  a  peacemaker  still 
brought  him  earnest  calls  for  help ;  he  twice  visited 
Bostra  in  Arabia,  and  he  made  a  second  journey 
to  Athens.  But  Caesarea  was  the  centre  of  his 
teaching,  and  his  fame  drew  men  of  distinguished 
ability  around  him.  There  a  young  student  from 
Neo-Cassarea  in  Pontus,  Gregory  by  name,  on  his 
way  to  the  great  school  of  Roman  law  at  Bey  rout, 
fell  in  with  Origen  accidentally.  It  was  the  first 
day  of  a  new  life  to  him,  he  said  afterwards.  He 
could  not  tear  himself  away,  and  stayed  five  years. 
In  moving  words  as  he  departed  he  bore  witness  to 
the  master's  power.  ^  Like  a  skilled  husbandman 
taking  in  hand  an  unfertile  field,  or  a  gardener 
training  an  unproductive  tree  to  bear  fruit,  Origen 
treated  his  pupils  with  various  disciplines  adapted 
to  their  several  characters.  Then  with  the  aid 
of  geometry  and  astronomy  he  filled  them  with  a 
rational  wonder  at  the  sacred  economy  of  the 
universe.     The  study  of  the  mind  came  next,  and 

'Doucin,  Hist,  dc  VOrigenisme,  i,  quoted  by  Farrar,  Lives  of 
the  Fathers,  i,  415,  3. 

"Greg.  Thaumat.  Panegyr. 


368       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

moral  science  led  to  the  observation  and  distinction 
of  good  and  evil,  and  the  ripening  of  the  virtues  of 
Prudence,  Self-Control,  Justice,  and  Coiu-age.  It 
was  with  no  lip-service  that  Origen  commended 
them;  he  strove  himself  to  realize  his  own  ideal, 
and  led  his  hearers  on  to  piety,  rightly  called  the 
mother  of  all  the  virtues.  All  poetry  and  philo- 
sophy were  thrown  open  to  them  (save,  indeed,  the 
writings  of  the  atheists).  He  prescribed  adhesion 
to  no  exclusive  school ;  with  a  glorious  confidence  in 
truth  he  bade  his  pupils  freely  traverse  the  whole 
round  of  knowledge,  crowning  their  investigations 
with  the  disclosure  of  the  mysteries  of  Scripture, 
where  philosophy  was  illumined  by  religion.  For 
the  end  of  all  moral  training  was  to  become  like 
to  God  with  a  pure  mind,  to  draw  near  to  him  and 
abide  in  him;  and  the  supreme  endowment  of 
religion  was  to  be  able  to  interpret  the  oracles  of 
God  to  men,  so  that  they  might  hear  them  with 
intelligence,  and  live  in  the  constant  inspiration  of 
things  divine. 

The  literary  activity  of  Origen  continued  mean- 
while unabated,  save  for  his  frequent  travels,  and 
a  sojourn  of  two  years  under  the  shelter  of  a 
learned  Christian  lady,  Juliana,  at  Caesarea  in 
Cappadocia,  during  the  persecution  instituted  by 
the  brutal  Maximin,  when  Ambrose  was  impris- 
oned. On  his  return  he  renewed  his  customary 
activities.  On  the  weekly  fast-days,  Wednesday 
and  Friday,  he  preached  in  the  great  church  at 
Cassarea,  sometimes  even  giving  daily  expositions 


At  the  Parting  of  the  Ways      369 

of  Scripture.  The  congregations  might  be  small; 
the  women  might  retire  for  gossip  to  the  back  of 
the  church ;  but  the  unwearied  teacher  held  on  his 
way,  and  more  series  of  homilies  were  gathered 
from  the  reporters'  notes.  He  had  entered  his 
seventh  decade  when  he  composed  his  famous 
reply  to  the  True  Word  of  the  philosopher  Cel- 
sus.  His  active  correspondence  often  involved 
the  discussion  of  intricate  biblical  or  philo- 
sophical questions.  But  danger  gathered  around 
his  closing  years.  After  the  murder  of  Philip 
in  250  A.D.,  the  Emperor  Decius  inaugurated 
a  wide-spread  attack  on  Christianity.  It  was 
aimed  especially  at  the  leaders.  The  bishop  of 
Jerusalem,  Alexander,  Origen's  early  friend,  was 
tried  at  Caesarea  and  died  in  prison.  Babylas 
suffered  the  same  fate  at  Antioch,  and  Fabian  was 
martyred  at  Rome.'  Origen  was  arrested  and 
confined  with  great  severity.  One  of  his  former 
pupils,  Dionysius,  now  bishop  of  Alexandria, 
with  affection  unimpaired  by  past  events  or  lapse 
of  time,  wrote  him  a  letter  on  Martyrdom,  full  of 
encouragement.^  Released  on  the  death  of  De- 
cius in  251,  the  aged  scholar  lived  to  write  similar 
letters  carrying  like  comfort  to  other  sufferers.  ^ 
But  his  health  was  shattered  and  he  died  in  Tyre 
in  253,  having  completed,  says  Eusebius,  seventy 
years  save  one. 

Origen  stands  out  as  the  greatest  mind  among 

'  Euscb.,  Hist.  EccL,  VI,  xx.xix.'  ^ '  'Ibid.,  VI,  xlvi. 

3 Ibid.,  VI,  xxxix. 


370       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

the  theologians  of  the  East,  the  most  fertile,  the 
most  daring,  the  most  profound.  Augustine 
might  have  a  deeper  knowledge  of  the  secrets 
of  human  passion;  none  could  surpass  Origen 
in  his  confidence  in  the  redeeming  purpose  and 
power  of  God.  The  theodicy  that  is  sketched 
in  the  treatise  on  First  Principles  ranges  through 
vaster  spaces  than  are  contemplated  in  its  coun- 
terpart in  the  City  of  God.  The  scene  which 
Augustine  surveys  is  on  a  petty  scale  and  its 
duration  is  brief  and  Hmited,  compared  with 
the  countless  ages  and  innumerable  worlds  that 
Origen  demands  for  his  bold  scheme  of  univer- 
sal salvation.  Starting  from  the  Rule  of  Faith 
transmitted  by  the  Church,  with  the  help  of  Scrip- 
ture in  one  hand  and  Philosophy  in  the  other, 
Origen  constructs  a  mighty  drama  of  eter- 
nity, in  which  the  Trinity,  and  all  created  spirits 
through  every  phase  of  fall  and  recovery,  com- 
bine to  estabHsh  throughout  all  existence  the 
Sovereignty  of  the  Father,  that  God  may  be  all  in 
all.  A  world  in  which  evil  is  not  eliminated  by 
destruction  but  overcome  by  transmutation  into 
good,  is  the  goal  of  all  Origen's  vision.  His 
exposition,  therefore,  involves,  first,  a  doctrine 
of  God,  the  metaphysic  of  his  being,  and  his  re- 
lation to  the  scene  of  our  activity ;  secondly,  a  doc- 
trine of  souls,  their  various  ranks,  powers,  and 
functions,  angelic,  human,  and  demonic,  including 
in  the  history  of  this  world  the  fall  of  Adam 
and  its  consequences;  and  thirdly,  a  doctrine  of 


At  the  Parting  of  the  Ways      371 

redemption  and  restoration,  making  large  drafts 
on  future  ages,  and  culminating  in  a  reign  of 
righteousness  where  all  opposition  is  merged  in 
universal  harmony. 

For  this  philosophy  was  obviously  inadequate. 
Porphyry  might  declare  that  in  his  thought  of 
Deity  Origen  was  essentially  Greek,  and  his  reply 
to  Celsus  might  at  times  betray  the  difficulty 
which  he  felt  in  meeting  attack  from  a  standpoint 
metaphysically  not  unlike  his  own.  To  the 
philosophers  he  knew  himself  deeply  indebted; 
he  was  a  constant  student  of  their  writings,  and  a 
no  less  constant  teacher  of  their  truths.  But  he 
could  not  ignore  the  fact  that  though  it  might 
denounce  the  popular  religion,  philosophy  had  not 
replaced  it.  Celsus  might  not  be  willing  to  admit 
it,  but  it  was  true  that  the  Jews  had  a  higher  wisdom 
even  than  professed  philosophers;  the  latter  might 
proclaim  worthy  doctrines,  but  they  fell  away  into 
the  worship  of  idols  and  demons,  while  the  very 
lowest  Jew  looked  to  God  alone.'  The  philo- 
sophers' connivance  at  polytheism  was  intolerable 
to  a  spirit  so  sincere  and  pure.  They  had  no  real 
sympathy  with  the  common  folk;  they  did  not 
care  to  make  truth  accessible  to  all ;  they  were  Hke 
doctors — even  Plato — who  only  attended  people 
supposed  to  be  the  more  refined,  and  despised 
the  great  bulk  of  the  lower  classes.^  Pliilosophy 
consequently,  had  no  expansive  force;  its  range 
was  limited ;  Plato  was  found  only  in  the  hands  of 

'  Contra  Cels.,  V,  xliii.  '  Ibid.,  VII,  Ix. 


372       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

literary  men.  In  a  remarkable  passage  which 
implied  that  the  death  of  Christ  was  in  no  sense 
an  essential  element  in  redemption,  he  argued  that 
if  only  the  Jews  had  not  first  slain  the  prophets 
and  afterwards  plotted  against  Jesus,  men  would 
have  had  a  pattern  of  a  heavenly  city  which 
even  Plato  might  have  sought  to  describe';  though 
it  might  be  doubted  whether  he  could  have  done  as 
much  as  Moses  and  his  successors,  who  trained 
a  holy  nation  with  teaching  undefiled  by  super- 
stition. But  the  Church  was  putting  an  end  to 
polytheism.  The  disciples  of  Jesus,  ignorant  of 
philosophy,  were  traversing  the  world,  impressing 
each  one  of  their  hearers  according  to  his  deserts, 
and  improving  them  in  proportion  to  the  inchna- 
tion  of  their  will  to  accept  the  good.  This  was 
the  practical  demonstration  of  the  Christian  claim. 
Origen  saw  Christianity  advancing  through  the 
world,  in  spite  of  efforts  to  suppress  it ;  its  followers 
might  lose  their  property  and  even  their  lives; 
its  teachers  might  be  few;  but  nevertheless  it  was 
being  preached  everywhere  and  winning  acceptance 
among  wise  and  foolish,  barbarians  and  Greeks. 
Who  could  refuse  to  see  in  this  the  manifestation  of 
a  power  more  than  human,  the  fulfilment  of  the 
authoritative  words  of  Jesus  himself?^ 

Origen,  therefore,  plants  himself  firmly  on  the 
historic  development  of  the  Church.  His  theology 
starts  from  the  teaching  which  has  been  handed 
down  from  the  apostles  and  is  embodied  in  ecclesi- 

'  Ibid.,  V,  xliii.  »I>e  Princip.,  IV,  i,  2  J 


At  the  Parting  of  the  Ways      373 

astical  tradition.'  There  is  the  test  among  com- 
peting sects,  there  is  the  unity  which  transcends 
the  diversities  alike  of  philosophy  and  heresy. 
In  the  background  Origen  always  discerns  the 
various  types  of  Gnosticism,  the  claims  of  the 
Montanist  "new  prophecy,"  the  Monarchian 
interpretations  of  the  Godhead.  Against  the 
first  he  lays  stress  on  the  identity  of  the  Deity 
of  law  and  gospel,  of  justice  and  goodness,  of  the 
Old  Testament  and  the  New.  Against  the  crude 
eschatology  of  the  second  he  develops  a  vast 
and  magnificent  scheme  of  spiritual  renewal  from 
world  to  world  and  age  to  age.  Against  the  third 
he  vindicates  the  doctrine  of  the  Triad  or  Trinity. 
Above  all  divisions  rises  the  Universal  Church. 
It  has  its  three-fold  ministry,  and  its  sacraments 
of  baptism  and  thanksgiving,  though  the  true 
Christian  is  also  a  priest,  offering  to  God  the 
spiritual  sacrifice  of  his  own  heart.  But  with  his 
lofty  purity  of  character  Origen  was  well  aware 
that  the  condition  of  the  Church  was  by  no  means 
ideal.  Tares  grew  beside  the  wheat,  and  his 
thoughts  turned  constantly  to  the  Spiritual  Church 
in  the  world  above  where  the  blessed  made  a 
heavenly  temple,  a  mystic  body  of  the  Lord, 
"older  in  the  counsels  of  God  than  creation 
itself."^ 

But  the  real  source  of  Christian  truth  lay  in  the 
Scriptures  of  which  the  Church  was  the  witness 

'Cp.  De  Prhicip.,  preface,  2. 

'Bigg,  Christian  Plalonists,  p.  222;  cp.  ante,  p.  147. 


374       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

and  guardian.  Their  preservation  and  trans- 
mission was  due  to  her  watchfulness :  but  what  was 
the  guarantee  of  their  contents?  The  knowledge 
which  led  to  salvation  lay  in  the  teaching  of  Christ, 
but  this  was  not  limited  to  the  few  brief  years  of  his 
earthly  ministry.  The  Word  dwelt  also  in  Moses 
and  the  prophets,  and  they  wrought  and  spoke 
under  the  influence  of  the  Spirit  of  Christ.  The 
conformity  of  the  Gospels  to  prophecy  was  an 
argument  that  could  be  addressed  alike  to  philo- 
sophers and  Jews.  The  warrant  of  prophetic 
inspiration  lay  in  the  pages  of  the  New  Testament 
and  the  experience  of  believers;  the  spread  of  the 
Gospel  amid  difficulty  and  danger  proved  that  a 
divine  power  had  introduced  it  and  carried  it 
through  the  world.  Thus  the  doctrines  of  the 
Deity  of  Christ  and  the  supernatural  character  of 
prophecy  supported  each  other.  Before  the  Ad- 
vent the  true  nature  of  the  ancient  Scriptures  was 
known  only  imperfectly.  When  the  Son  of  God 
appeared,  the  veil  that  lay  upon  the  letter  of  the 
past  was  taken  away,  and  the  hidden  light  shone 
forth  to  view.  ^  The  theology  of  Origen  is  in  real- 
ity a  philosophical  commentary  upon  the  sacred 
texts.  For  him  as  for  Clement  and  for  Philo  the 
holy  words  cover  sacred  mysteries.  Written  by  the 
Spirit  of  God  they  contain  meanings  not  visible 
at  first  sight ;  they  are  the  images  of  divine  things.  ^ 

'  De  Princip.,  IV,  i,  6.     Illustrations  will  be  found  in  the  pre- 
ceding sections,  and  in  the  treatise  Contra  Cels.,  VII. 
'  Ibid.,  preface,  8. 


At  the  Parting  of  the  Ways      375 

For  Origen,  as  for  Clement  and  Philo  before 
him,  the  whole  world  was  full  of  symbols  of  invisi- 
ble realities.  Plato  had  stamped  his  idealism  on 
the  higher  Hellenic  thought,  and  the  Stoics  had 
applied  it  freely  to  the  interpretation  of  the  ancient 
myths.  Origen  had  been  a  student  of  the  work 
of  Chasremon,  once  librarian  of  the  Serapeum  in 
Alexandria,  and  afterwards  tutor  of  the  Emperor 
Nero,  and  his  contemporary  Cornutus  who  taught 
at  Rome;  and  Porphyry  ascribed  Origen's  treat- 
ment of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  to  their  figurative 
explanations  of  the  Greek  mysteries.*  Jews  and 
philosophers  had  thus  led  the  way;  the  Christians 
followed  with  a  difference.  The  story  of  Israel 
was  more  than  a  piece  of  national  history.  It 
was  linked  with  the  wider  fortunes  of  humanity, 
and  all  the  vicissitudes  of  the  entire  race  were 
bound  together  by  one  "increasing  purpose" 
which  culminated  in  Christ.  There  was  a  unity, 
therefore,  in  the  record  which  must  be  sought 
beneath  the  literal  meaning.  Three-fold  were  the 
aspects  or  relations  of  the  sacred  text,  ^  correspond- 
ing to  the  triple  division  "body,  soul,  and  spirit." 
The  somatic  or  "bodily"  was  the  plain  historic 
sense  which  sometimes  involved  discrepancies  of 
fact  only  to  be  resolved  by  some  deeper  principle, 
such  as  the  divergent  accounts  of  the  opening  of  the 
ministry  of  Jesus  in  the  Fourth  Gospel  compared 

»Euseb.,  Hist.  EccL,  VI,  xix,  8. 

»  This  was  justified  out  of  the  Greek  translation  of  Prov.  xr.ii, 
20,  De  Princip.,  IV,  ii,  4. 


376       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

with  the  First  Three.  ^  Other  stories,  such  as  the 
Fall,  the  adventures  of  Lot,  or  the  conveyance  of 
Jesus  on  to  a  high  mountain,  could  not  be  accepted 
as  records  of  actual  events.  They  must  have  some 
other  meaning,  psychic  or  moral,  embracing  all 
that  touches  the  soul  in  this  life  in  its  relation  to 
the  law  of  right  and  God.  Behind  the  individual 
stood  the  Church,  the  heir  of  human  history,  the 
instrument  of  God's  purpose  for  mankind,  the 
agency  of  redemption,  possessed  of  the  secrets 
of  time  and  of  eternity.  These  are  to  be  dis- 
covered in  the  pneumatic  or  spiritual  meaning. 
Within  the  Gospel  which  all  can  understand  is  the 
Eternal  Gospel  {Rev.  xiv,  6) ,  the  heavenly  wisdom 
which  reveals  the  mysteries  of  the  unseen  world.* 
The  method  of  unfolding  this  sense  was  allegory. 
The  literal  meaning  must  be  received  by  faith, 
the  act  of  simple-minded  unreasoning  belief 
((BtwTtvc-Q,  aXoyoq).  The  last  was  reached  by  the 
enlightened  mind,  illumined  by  the  grace  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  when  ultimate  truths  became 
self-evident,  and  the  Gnostic  had  no  more  need  of 
the  ladders  by  which  he  had  laboriously  climbed. 
It  is  by  this  aid  that  Origen  reaches  those  grand 
solutions  of  the  problems  of  the  future  which  proved 
unhappily  too  daring  for  the  Church.  What,  then, 
was  his  conception  of  the  person  and  work  of  the 

'  In  Joann.,  x,  §  1-2. 

^  Ibid. ,  i,  §  40.  For  an  extravagantly  fantastic  instance  see 
the  explanation  of  John  i,  27,  where  one  shoe  is  the  assumption 
of  human  flesh  by  the  Son  of  God,  and  the  other  the  descent  into 
Hades,  "whatever  Hades  may  be,"  ibid.,  vi,  §  174. 


At  the  Parting  of  the  Ways      377 

Saviour,  and  the  nature  and  scope  of  Christian 
salvation  ? 

No  great  teacher  can  be  indifferent  to  the  cur- 
rents of  contemporary  thought.  His  conceptions 
are  largely  shaped  by  reaction  against  opposing 
views;  he  cannot  withdraw  into  empty  space  and 
think  out  an  interpretation  of  existence  by  himself; 
he  must  use  the  language  and  ideas  of  his  intellect- 
ual environment ;  he  must  guard  against  misunder- 
standing, and  ward  off  error.  The  fundamental 
purpose  of  all  Origen's  speculation  was  to  determine 
the  method  of  God's  discipline  of  souls,  their  origin, 
their  course,  their  destiny.  The  means  available 
were  the  Scripture  record,  the  tradition  of  the 
Church,  and  reason,  enlightened  by  religion  and 
philosophy,  which  could  discern  mysteries  of  the 
Spirit  beneath  the  obscurities  of  the  letter.  One 
mighty  principle  controlled  the  whole,  the  sover- 
eignty of  God,  the  demand  that  his  will  should  be 
fulfilled,  the  certainty  that  all  oppositions  of  Evil 
must  be  overcome,  the  confidence  that  the  jarring 
elements  of  the  world  should  be  brought  into  har- 
mony and  God  himself  be  "all  in  all."'  This  far-off 
vision  of  the  Apostle  Paul  becomes  the  postulate 
of  Origen's  whole  theology.  The  nature  of  the 
Deity,  the  powers  and  capacities  of  created  spirits, 
the  processes  of  redemption  and  restoration,  are  all 
displayed  in  their  relation  to  it.  Difficulties  are 
met  with  fresh  suggestions;  objections  are  quietly 
answered;  and  the  majestic  thought  contemplates 

»  I  Cor.  XV,  28. 


378       Phases  of  Early  Christianity  ' 

vast  cycles  of  time  and  calls  new  worlds  into  being 
when  the  old  are  worn  out,  to  secure  unencumbered 
opportunities  for  struggling  souls  and  lead  them  up 
into  the  "central  Peace." 

The  treatise  on  First  Principles  opens,  ac- 
cordingly, with  an  exposition  of  the  doctrine  of 
God.  ^  On  the  lines  of  Scripture  and  Church  teach- 
ing the  Gnostic  separation  between  the  Creator  of 
the  Old  Testament  and  the  Father  of  the  New  is 
repudiated,  and  the  way  is  open  for  the  delineation 
of  his  intrinsic  being.  True,  his  nature  passes  our 
comprehension  and  cannot  be  measured ;  but  in  the 
language  of  philosophy  God  is  the  ultimate  Monad 
or  Unit.^  He  is  thus  intrinsically  Mind,  the 
source  and  spring  of  all  intelligence,  intellectualis 
natura  simplex,  nothing  can  be  added  to  him,  nor  is 
there  within  him  any  greater  or  less.  As  Mind 
takes  up  no  room  and  has  neither  shape  nor  size, 
it  is  thus  independent  of  space.  Without  magni- 
tude, form,  or  parts,  it  is  uncompounded,  simple. 
Labouring  to  express  its  elevation  into  the  utmost 
spirituality,  Origen  wrote  in  later  life  that  as  Mind, 
or  rather  as  transcending  Mind  and  Being,  God  is 
simple,  invisible,  and  incorporeal.^  He  cannot, 
therefore,  be  seen,  though  he  may  be  known. 
The  Scripture  which  promises  vision  to  the  pure 
in    heart    concedes    nothing    to    outward    sight; 

'  See  also  the  Homilies  on  John,  and  the  treatise  Against  Cdsus. 
'  De  Princip.,   I,  i,   5-6,  "  iMvds  et  ut  ita  dicam  evds,"  two 
Platonic  terms.     Cp.  Clement,  Lect.  V,  ante,  p.  346. 
^Contra  Cels.,  VII,  xxxviii. 


At  the  Parting  of  the  Ways      379 

yet  the  works  of  divine  Providence  and  the  skill 
whieh  pervades  the  world  are  like  rays  from  the 
eternal  light  showing  us  the  true  nature  of  the 
Father  of  the  universe. 

To  God  thus  abstractly  conceived  two  funda- 
mental notions  are  attached.  The  simplicity  of 
his  nature  admits  of  no  change.  The  immuta- 
bility of  the  Monad  is  an  irreducible  metaphysical 
idea.  When  he  is  said  to  feci  wrath  or  to  repent, 
the  Scripture  uses  human  language,  and  the  Spirit 
condescends  to  our  intelligence.  But,  secondly,  he 
is  essentially  good;  and  divine  goodness  implies  a 
constant  activity  of  love.  Love  ever  seeks  to  give, 
and  God's  supreme  gift  is  the  knowledge  of  himself; 
as  the  sole  cause  of  all  that  is  he  perpetually  com- 
municates himself  to  the  world,  and  to  created 
spirits  he  reveals  himself  as  the  ever-bountiful 
author  of  all  existence.  This  is  the  meaning  of  the 
doctrine  of  the  Son .  The  Gospel  identifies  him  with 
the  Logos  or  Word ;  it  designates  him  the  "  Only-be- 
gotten "  ;  it  proclaims  him  incarnate  in  Jesus  Christ, 
whom  the  Apostle  Paul  described  as  God's  Power 
and  Wisdom.  Now  Solomon  had  already  pictured 
Wisdom  as  created  by  the  Lord  in  the  beginning  of 
his  ways,'  and  there  was  consequently  a  sense  in 
which  the  Word  was  a  creation  (/.Ttj^xa),  even  a  pro- 
duct of  his  workmanship  (cY]jjnoLlpYrj[xa).  But  over 
against  this  Scriptural  argument  came  the  pleas  of 
ontology  and  ethics.  Who  could  believe  that  the 
Father  was  ever  for  a  moment  of  time  without  his 

^  Prov.  viii,  22;  De  Princip.,  I,  ii,  I. 


38o      Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

Wisdom  ?  Was  it  affirmed  that  he  called  into  being 
what  did  not  exist  before?  That  implied  that  he 
acquired  a  new  capacity  which  he  formerly  did  not 
possess.  Or  was  it  alleged  that  he  did  possess  it  but 
concealed  it,  and  postponed  its  manifestation? 
Either  alternative  was  impious  and  absurd,  for 
each  involved  the  divine  nature  in  an  act  of  change. 
Tertullian's  conjEident  assertion  that  he  knew  the 
moment  of  the  entry  of  the  Son  into  existence, 
when  the  Word  leapt  forth  "Let  there  be  light," 
cut  right  athwart  Origen's  metaphysic.  God 
must  always  have  possessed  his  Wisdom ;  the  Father 
can  never  have  been  without  a  Son.  ^  True,  he  is 
Unbegotten,  and  the  Son  begotten,  and  the  method 
of  this  august  generation  lies  beyond  our  power  to 
conceive.  It  is  no  act  in  time,  it  is  eternal.  Like  the 
brightness  for  ever  streaming  from  the  sun,  the  Only- 
begotten  for  ever  issues  from  the  Unbegotten .  Such 
generation  is  not  an  event,  it  is  an  everlasting  pro- 
cess^; the  Father  did  not  beget  the  Son  and  then  let 
him  go,  he  is  for  ever  begetting  him ;  and  thus  an 
eternal  relation  is  expressed  in  terms  of  time,  and  a 
changeless  state  is  represented  as  a  perpetual  act.  ^ 

*  De  Princip.,  I,  ii,  3. 

'"Eterna  ac  sempiterna  generatio,  sicut  splendor  generatur  ex 
luce,"  De  Princip.,  I,  ii,  4. 

3  'Ael  yevvq.  avT6v,  Homil.  in  Jerem.  ix,  4.  A  curious  analogy  is 
found  in  Plutarch's  explanation  of  the  relation  of  the  sun  to 
Apollo;  "as  the  body  is  to  the  soul,  and  sight  to  vision,  and  light 
to  truth,  so  is  the  power  of  the  sun  to  the  nature  of  Apollo,  inovov 
iKiivov  Kal  t6kov  6vtos  del  yivSfievov,  del  tovtov  dirocpaivovros,  De  DefectU 
Orac,  ed.  Reiske,  Vol.  vii,  p.  706. 


At  the  Parting  of  the  Ways      381 

As  the  image  of  the  invisible  God,  the  Son 
may  be  said  to  be  born  of  him  like  a  volition  pro- 
ceeding from  his  mind.  He  is  no  part  of  Deity, 
cut  off  or  divided  from  the  divine  Being;  he  shares 
the  substance  of  the  Godhead,  he  is  homo-ousios 
with  the  Father. '  Yet  he  is  different  numerically 
and  as  such  he  can  even  be  called  a  "second  God"  ^; 
God  is  the  first  cause,  and  the  Son  is  caused;  he 
is  even  other  in  substance  [not  in  the  sense  of 
nature  or  essence  but  of  individuality  and  personal 
distinction]  and  subject  to  the  Father.^  In  his 
remarkable  exposition  of  the  opening  verse  of  the 
Prologue  to  the  Fourth  Gospel  Origen  shows 
himself  well  aware  of  the  difference  between  the 
divinity  of  the  Word  and  the  being  of  the  God- 
head. The  Son  is  not  auto-theos  "Absolute  God." 
He  can  only  reveal  to  others  what  he  has  himself 
heard  from  the  Father,  he  can  only  do  what  the 
Father  has  shown  him.  His  powers  are  all  com- 
municated from  him  who  alone  is  Unbegotten; 
they  are  gifts  from  the  infinite  source,  and  one 
gift  is  withheld.  In  supreme  measure  the  Son 
may  share  the  Absolute  Reason,  Wisdom,  Right- 
eousness.'' But  absolutely  good  (aj-rxyaOo?,  azXo)? 
dYaOo?)  he  cannot  be.     "There  is  none  good  save 

•  See  the  Fragm.  in  Ep.  ad.  Hehr.,  Lommatsch,  v,  p.  300;  Har- 
nack,  Hist,  of  Dogma,  ii,  p.  354;  Loofs,  Leitjaden,  p.  194. 

^Contra  Cels.,  V,  xxxix. 

^De  Oral.,  xv.  On  the  perplexing  changes  in  the  use  of  oMa 
and  viroffTaffis  cp.  Bigg,  Christian  Platonists,  p.  163;  Loofs, 
Leitjaden,  p.  194^ 

■I  Contra  Cels.  V,  xxxix. 


382       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

one,"  says  the  Gospel,'  and  Origen,  loyal  to 
Scripture,  affirms  that  the  Father  only  is  un- 
changeably good.^ 

The  doctrine  of  the  Spirit  is  much  less  developed. 
The  Word  stands  between  the  ultimate  Unit  of 
immutable  Deity  and  the  manifoldness  of  creation. 
The  Father  and  the  Son  work  together  in  sinners 
as  well  as  saints,  in  dumb  animals  as  well  as  in 
rational  human  beings;  nay  their  energy  pervades 
even  the  inanimate  creation  and  the  whole  field  of 
derived  existence.  The  function  of  the  Spirit  is  by 
no  means  so  extensive.  It  is  confined  to  the  assist- 
ance of  sinners  who  have  already  turned  to  better 
things,  and  walk  along  the  ways  of  Jesus  Christ.  ^ 
In  a  remarkable  fragment  preserved  in  Greek,'' 
a  series  of  gradations  is  established,  the  Son  is 
less  than  the  Father,  and  the  Spirit  is  lower  still. 
Against  the  philosophers  and  the  Jews  Origen 
has  thus  vindicated  the  existence  of  different 
"persons"  in  the  Godhead.  The  peculiar  form 
of  Monarchian  doctrine  which  Praxeas  carried  to 
Carthage^  is  driven  in  the  same  way  off  the  field. 

^  Mark  X,  1 8. 

^De  Princip.,  I,  ii,  13.  Goodness  is  apparently  here  un- 
derstood of  beneficence,  and  belongs  to  the  Father,  in  respect 
of  his  activity  in  creation. 

3  Ibid.,  I,  iii,  5. 

4  Inserted  by  Koetschau  in  the  chapter  just  cited,  Werke,  v, 
p.  56.  The  passage  proves  that  in  the  subsequent  statement, 
§7,  that  in  the  Trinity  nothing  can  be  called  greater  or  less,  the 
language  is  that  of  Rufinus,  rather  than  Origen;  cp.  Loofs, 
Leitjaden,  p.  196. 

5 See  Lect.  II,  p.  no. 


At  the  Parting  of  the  Ways      383 

And  the  interpretation  of  Sabellius  who  had 
estabHshed  a  congregation  in  Rome  and  might 
have  been  himself  still  teaching  when  Origen  visited 
the  city  as  a  young  man,  is  in  like  manner  set 
aside.  Sabellius  had  insisted  that  Father,  Son, 
and  Spirit  were  only  three  names  for  one  and  the 
same  Being,  three  aspects  under  which  he  mani- 
fested himself.  They  represented  three  phases  of 
his  historic  operation.  In  the  Old  Testament 
God  was  Creator,  Legislator,  i.  e.,  Father.  In 
Christ  he  appeared  as  Son  and  Redeemer;  in  the 
Church  he  worked  as  Spirit,  imparting  and  sustain- 
ing the  believer's  life.  Here  was  a  kind  of  Trinity 
of  Revelation.  It  could  not  be  harmonized  either 
with  Scripture  or  metaphysics.  The  Hellenic 
ontology  which  insisted  on  the  immutability  of 
the  ultimate  Unit,  required  a  mediator  between 
the  changeless  simplicity  of  God's  nature  and  the 
diversity  of  the  physical  world.  The  function 
of  creation  was  handed  over  to  the  Son,  who 
finally  deigned  to  divest  himself  of  his  heavenly 
glory  and  become  Theanthropos,  "God-man. " 

This  term,  first  coined  by  Origen,  describes  the 
incarnation  of  the  Son  in  Jesus  Christ.  The  con- 
ception is  presented  in  a  novel  form.  The  whole 
drama  of  human  existence  was  projected  by 
the  philosophical  theologian  on  the  scale  of  eter- 
nity, and  at  any  given  moment  the  world  was  full 
of  rational  souls  in  every  grade  of  spiritual  excel- 
lence or  impurity,  created  free  in  the  beginning 
and  now  passing  through  stage  after  stage  of  disci- 


384       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

pline  in  the  process  of  fall  and  of  recovery.  Among 
these  was  the  human  soul  of  Jesus.  ^  To  all 
rational  creatures  did  the  Only-begotten,  the 
invisible  image  of  the  invisible  God,  impart  invisi- 
bly a  share  in  himself.  The  gift  was  proportioned 
to  the  love  which  each  one  bore  him.  In  the 
exercise  of  free-will  this  varied  in  different  individu- 
als; but  the  soul  of  Jesus  chose  to  cleave  indis- 
solubly  to  the  Word  from  the  beginning,  received 
him  wholly,  entered  into  his  light,  and  became 
one  spirit  with  him.^  Such  a  soul  could  serve 
as  the  mediating  substance  for  the  union  of  God's 
nature  with  a  human  body.  The  assumption  of 
this  particular  soul  by  the  Word  for  the  purpose  of 
incarnation  was  no  accident,  nor  was  it  due  to 
divine  partiality;  it  was  the  fit  reward  of  its 
virtues  as  the  prophet  proclaimed — "Thou  hast 
loved  righteousness  and  hated  iniquity,  therefore 
God  thy  God  hath  anointed  thee  with  the  oil  of 
joy  above  thy  fellows."^  It  must  not,  however, 
be  supposed  that  in  becoming  man  in  Jesus  the 
divine  Word  was  enclosed  completely  in  him. 
The  divinity  of  the  Son  of  God  could  not  be  shut 
up  in  any  place  or  bounded  by  any  human  form. 
If  he  was  afterwards  in  Paul  who  said  "Christ 
liveth  in  me,"  he  doubtless  also  was  in  Peter  and 
John,  and  if  in  them  why  not  also  in  Michael  and 
Gabriel?''    The  body  of  Christ  was  made  miracu- 

^De  Princip.,  II,  vi,  3.  *  i  Cor.  vi,  17. 

3  Psalm  xlv,  7.    The  oil  of  joy  means  being  filled  with  Holy  Spirit. 
*De  Princip.,  IV,  xxix;  cp.  Contra  Cels.,  VII,  xvii. 


At  the  Parting  of  the  Ways      385 

lously  to  contain  both  the  Word  and  the  human 
soul,  possessing  some  quahties  common  to  other 
men,  but  also  a  certain  superiority  so  that  the  soul 
might  remain  untainted  by  sin. '  But  the  Word 
underwent  no  change  in  becoming  "as  it  were 
flesh,"  ^  and  suffered  none  of  the  vicissitudes  which 
affect  the  body  and  the  soul;  how  absurd  to 
imagine  that  one  who  called  himself  the  Truth, 
the  Life,  and  the  Resurrection,  died!^  And  yet 
the  union  of  the  human  soul  and  the  divine  Logos 
was  so  close  that  their  fusion  might  be  compared 
to  a  mass  of  molten  iron  glowing  for  ever  with 
white  heat.  4  Word,  soul,  and  flesh  are  together 
called  the  Son  of  God,  and  in  respect  of  that 
nature  which  death  could  affect  the  Son  of  God 
did  die.  ^ 

To  what  end,  then,  was  this  death?  Its  purpose  is 
not  explained  in  the  treatise  on  "First  Principles." 
The  later  homilies  contain  various  hints  which 
exhibit  it  from  different  points  of  view.  It  was  a 
ransom  paid  to  the  devil,  who  thought  by  the  Cross 
to  get  Christ  in  his  power,  prevent  the  spread  of  his 
teaching,  and  secure  control  over  men  for  ever. 
The  devil,  however,  was  deceived,  ^  for  he  could  not 
detain  the  Son  of  God,  and  the  whole  transaction 

^Contra  Cels.,  I,  xxxiii.  'Ibid.,  IV,  xv. 

ilbid.,  II,  xvi.  *De  Princip.,  II,  vi,  6. 

sibid.,  II,  vi,  3.  Contra  Cels.,  Ill,  iv,  i ,  the  mortal  body  and  the 
human  soul  were  so  closely  united  and  intermingled  with  the 
Logos  that  they  shared  his  divinity  and  were  changed  into  God. 

*Origen  does  not  shrink  from  describing  him  as  diraT-nd^fTi, 
Lommatzsch  (1834),  Vol.  iv,  p.  27. 
35 


386       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

was  a  divine  device  to  break  his  sway.*  Using 
the  language  of  the  second  Psalm,  Origen  describes 
the  Father  dwelling  in  the  heavens  as  deriding  the 
prince  of  this  age  and  his  invisible  agents 
who,  contrary  to  their  expectation,  found  their 
own  sovereignty  destroyed.  ^  Elsewhere,  however, 
under  Pauline  influence,  the  act  of  self-surrender 
is  said  to  have  had  for  its  purpose  to  make  God 
propitious  to  men.^  Prophecy  had  foretold  that 
Christ's  sufferings  would  be  for  the  benefit  of 
mankind '»;  and  if  he  gave  by  his  life  a  pattern 
for  men  to  follow,  why  should  he  not  by  his  death 
show  them  how  to  die  for  their  religion  ?s  So 
Socrates  had  died  as  a  philospher,  and  Leonidas  as 
a  soldier,  and  the  martyrs  as  Christians'^;  and 
those  who  were  called  to  endure  trial  found 
strength  in  the  august  Sufferer  on  the  cross. 

But  this  is  nowhere  the  central  element  in  Ori- 
gen's  thought.  Behind  the  closing  scene  of  Christ's 
career  lies  the  wider  purpose  of  the  Incarnation, 
as  a  teaching  of  obedience,  ^  a  revelation  of  heavenly 
truth,  and  a  gift  of  heavenly  life.  What  mysteries 
of  salvation  lay  in  the  descent  of  the  Divine  into 
the  human!     It  pointed  the  way  to  a  wondrous 

^  In  Matt.,  torn,  xvi,  8.  Cp.  Bethune-Baker,  Introd.  to  the 
Early  Hist,  of  Christ.  Doctr.,  p.  337.  Contrast  the  view  of  Irenasus, 
Lect.  II,  p.  125. 

'In  Matt,  xiii,  9;  Lommatzsch,  iii,  p.  229. 

3  Bethune-Baker,  op.  cit.,  p.  339.  On  its  extension  to  the  world 
above  cp.  Bigg,  op.  cit.,  p.  212. 

^Contra  Cels.,  I,  liv.  ^Ibid.,  II,  xvi. 

^  Ibid.,  II,  xvii.  i  De  Princip.,  Ill,  v,  6. 


_, 


At  the  Parting  of  the  Ways      387 

interweaving  of  the  two  natures,  so  that  the 
human  might  rise  to  the  divine  and  enter  into 
friendship  with  God."  It  was  as  though  Christ 
were  found  in  every  saint,  and  thus  through  the 
one  Christ  arise  many  Christs,  formed  after  him 
who  is  the  image  of  God.  ^  Such  is  the  great  hope 
set  before  the  soul.  How  and  for  whom  could  it 
be  realized? 

Vast  is  the  prospect  which  Origen  unfolds. 
His  scheme  of  existence  includes  innumerable 
ages  where  worlds  succeed  each  other  to  provide 
the  material  scene  for  the  discipline  of  souls  in  the 
long  pathway  to  the  victory  of  good.  The  principle 
of  the  divine  immutability  required  that  God's 
omnipotence  must  always  have  had  subjects  be- 
neath his  rule,^  just  as  his  goodness  must  always 
have  needed  objects  of  his  beneficence. ''  Through 
the  Word,  therefore,  in  the  timeless  sphere  he 
made  a  fixed  number  of  rational  spirits.  A 
strange  reason  is  given  for  this  limitation.  A 
Greek  fragment  preserved  in  a  letter  of  Jus- 
tinian lays  it  down  that  were  the  divine  power 
infinite,  it  would  inevitably  be  unable  to  un- 
derstand itself,  for  the  infinite  is  by  nature 
incomprehensible.  5  Number  and  measure  were 
the  laws  imposed  by  the  Eternal  on  his  own 
Wisdom.^    These  beings  were  all  equal  in  rank, 

'  Contra  Cels.,  Ill,  xxviii.  'In  Joann.,  vi,  §42. 

3De  Princip.,  I,  ii,  10.  *Ibid.,  IV,  xx.xv. 

^Ibid.,  II,  ix,  I.     {Werke,  v.,  p.  164.) 

o  Cp.  the  remarks  of  Bigg  on  the  limit  as  essential  to  the  Greek 
idea  of  perfection,  op.  cit.,  p.  159. 


388       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

endowed  with  reason  and  free  will.  They  were 
images  of  the  Word,  himself  the  archetypal  image 
of  the  invisible  God;  they,  too,  were  in  a  sense 
"made  God,  "  though  in  inferior  rank;  they  formed 
the  order  of  which  the  Psalmist  wrote  "the  God 
of  Gods,  the  Lord,  hath  spoken."^  But  these 
"gods,"  though  possessed  of  rational  powers 
through  participation  in  the  Logos,  were  not  self- 
subsistent;  they  had  begun  to  be;  they  were, 
therefore,  liable  to  change;  their  nature  bore 
the  stamp  of  mutability.  Only  in  the  Trinity, 
which  is  the  author  of  all  things,  does  goodness 
inhere  by  intrinsic  essence ;  in  created  beings  it  has 
a  certain  accidental  character;  it  depends  on  the 
maintenance  of  high  energies  of  mind  and  will.^ 
The  tension  thus  involved  might  at  any  moment 
be  relaxed;  and  the  problem  was  complicated  by 
the  necessity  that  all  created  spirits  should  possess 
some  form  of  bodily  investiture.  To  the  Trinity 
alone  could  incorporeal  existence  be  ascribed; 
all  derived  beings  required  some  kind  of  organi- 
zation more  or  less  tenuous  or  dense  according  to 
their  several  characters.  ^  But  how  did  such 
diversities  of  character  arise? 

To  this  question  Origen  vouchsafes  no  answer 
beyond  the  general  principle  that  all  dependent 
natures  were  by  the  very  process  of  their  creation 
rendered  mutable — only  the  eternal  was  lifted 
above  liability  to  change — and  freedom  involved 

' Ps.  1.  I,  In  Joann.,  ii,  2.  ' De  Princip.,  I,  vi,  2. 

ilbid.,  II,  ii,  2. 


At  the  Parting  of  the  Ways      3S9 

possibilities  of  error  and  fall.  The  scene  suddenly 
shifts  to  the  world  as  we  know  it,  full  of  varieties 
of  disposition  and  lot;  where  the  distribution  of 
happiness  and  pain  is  so  uneven  as  gravely  to 
threaten  the  faith  in  divine  justice.  Marcion, 
Valentinus,  Basilides,  could  easily  array  a  formid- 
able Ust  of  inequalities  in  the  heavens  above  and 
on  the  earth  beneath.  Why  so  many  gradations  in 
the  stellar  ranks,  ^  why  so  many  anomalies  in  human 
circumstance?  No  one  is  asked  to  choose  where  to 
be  born.  What  else  determines  nationality  or  con- 
dition but  accident  or  chance  ?  ^  The  riddle  is  solved 
on  the  ground  of  the  moral  administration  of  the 
universe.  Over  and  over  again  it  is  affirmed  that 
in  the  time-process  the  condition  of  every  created 
being  is  determined  by  his  own  conduct.  When 
they  were  first  produced  there  was  no  reason  for 
not  making  them  all  equal  and  alike.  In  the  exer- 
cise of  their  freedom  the  path  of  progress  was  open 
to  them  by  imitation  of  God,  while  neglect  might 
drag  them  into  decline.^  Different  choices  in- 
volved different  results.  Scripture  showed  that 
there  were  ranks  of  angelic  and  demonic  beings.  It 
could  not  be  supposed  that  the  malignant  powers 
were  created  wicked  by  nature ;  why  then  should 
it  not  be  admitted  that  the  hosts  above  were  good 
by  their  own  wills?  Against  the  Gnostic  doctrine 
of  essential  peculiarities  of  constitution  Origen  en- 
forced the  lesson — which  includes  human  beings  also 

'The  stars  were  regarded  as  conscious  beings,  De  Princip.,  I, 
vii.,  3.  '  Ibid.,  II,  ix,  e^.  i Ibid.,  II,  ix,  6. 


390       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

— that  every  creature's  place  in  the  whole  universe 
is  the  result  of  his  own  action ' ;  those  who  rule  on 
high  and  those  who  serve  below  owe  their  allotted 
stations  to  no  arbitrary  will;  they  have  received 
only  that  which  they  deserve.  It  is  the  function 
of  divine  Providence  thus  to  regulate  the  outer 
circumstance  to  match  the  inner  spirit.  The 
world  is  the  scene  of  continuous  adjustment 
between  the  springs  of  conduct  on  the  one  hand 
in  motive  and  purpose,  and  the  vicissitudes  of  each 
personal  career.  The  chances  and  accidents  of  life 
thus  take  their  place  in  the  order  that  pervades  the 
whole.  Each  sufferer  has  brought  his  own  evil 
on  himself.  Nothing  can  escape  and  nothing  can 
alter  the  constant  operation  of  the  everlasting 
justice. 

This  doctrine  finds  a  remarkable  parallel  in  the 
fundamental  principle  of  Indian  thought  known  as 
Karma,  or  the  law  of  the  Deed.  Like  its  eastern 
counterpart  it  involves  the  conception  of  a  suc- 
cession of  existences,  but  transmigration  into 
animals  or  plants  does  not  enter  into  Origen's 
view.  He  does,  however,  contemplate  vast  series 
of  ages  each  with  its  own  world,  through  which 
created  souls  have  pursued  their  course,  have 
fallen  and  risen,  have  advanced  and  declined, 
have  struggled,  have  been  defeated,  and  have 
triumphed.  Scripture  itself  speaks  of  unnumbered 
geons  past  and  yet  to  come^;  and  each  visible 
creation,  as  it  has  had  a  beginning,  so  it  must  have 

^De  Princip.,  I,  v,  3.  ^Ibid.,  II,  iii,  5;  III,  v,  3. 


At  the  Parting  of  the  Ways      391 

an  end.  The  very  term  by  which  the  Gospel 
designates  the  origin  of  this  worid,  xaia^oXiQ  [R.  V. 
"foundation  of  the  worid'"],  really  means  "cast- 
ing down  " ;  in  other  words  there  has  been  a  descent 
from  a  higher  to  a  lower  state,  to  provide  a  fitting 
sphere  for  spirits  that  had  fallen.  This  is  the 
explanation  of  St.  Paul's  teaching  about  the  sub- 
jection of  creation  to  vanity,  and  its  subsequent 
liberation  from  the  slavery  of  corruption.  In  the 
immense  scheme  of  the  discipline  of  souls  this 
world  (and  in  like  manner  each  that  has  preceded 
or  will  follow)  must  be  deemed  to  be  created  of 
such  a  kind  and  on  such  a  scale  as  to  embrace 
not  only  all  beings  appointed  to  be  trained  within 
it,  but  also  the  powers  prepared  for  their  guidance 
and  aid.  Chance,  on  the  one  hand,  and  fate  on  the 
other,  the  rival  doctrines  of  philosophy,  are  thus 
dismissed,  and  the  justice  and  beneficence  of  God 
secured. 

Was  there,  then,  no  limit  to  this  process? 
"Would  the  succession  continue  without  end? 
What  of  the  Gospel  promises  of  judgment,  and 
awards  of  bliss  and  pain  ?  They  are  susceptible  of 
various  interpretations,  and  the  crude  forms  of 
apocalyptic  materialism  are  conveniently  spiritu- 
alized.^ As  a^on  follows  seon  successive  judg- 
ments redistribute  the  evil  and  the  good ;  the  penal 
flame  is  kindled  by  each  sinner  for  himself  ^;  its  fuel 

^  Matt,  xxiv,  21 ;  Ephes.  i,  4;  Dc  Princip.,  Ill,  v,  4, 

'De  Princip.,  II,  xii,  2  fT. 

3jbid.,  II,  X,  4,  quoting  Isaiah,  1,  11. 


392       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

is  his  own  sins,  the  "wood,  hay,  stubble"  of  the 
Apostle  Paul.^  Conscience  becomes  its  own  tor- 
mentor as  it  beholds  the  story  of  its  guilty  deeds 
set  forth  before  its  eyes.  But  this  discipline,  if  it 
bears  on  one  side  the  aspect  of  moral  retribution, 
is,  upon  the  other,  emphatically  corrective.  The 
goodness  of  God  may  be  for  a  time  resisted,  it 
cannot  be  ultimately  baffled.  As  creation  began 
in  his  love,  so  must  it  end.  The  commencement 
and  the  close  must  be  alike.  ^  Declension  will  be 
followed  by  recovery;  Scripture  declares  that  at 
the  last  "God  shall  be  all  in  all. "^  The  prospect 
of  the  great  consummation  fills  Origen  with  hope 
and  joy.  Often  as  he  sends  his  gaze  through  the 
illimitable  future,  it  rests  after  all  uncertainties 
on  the  assurance  of  a  harmonized  world,  where  all 
resistance  is  transmuted  into  submission,  and 
submisssion  is  exalted  into  fellowship.  To  achieve 
this  result  consistently  with  human  freedom  is  the 
wondrous  prerogative  of  God.  He  alone  knows 
what  agencies  of  subjection  and  instruction  will  be 
needed."*  Origen  is  even  willing  to  contemplate 
the  possibility  of  future  falls,  ^  to  be  balanced  by 
still  more  distant  restorations;  and  even  at  the 
summit  of  attainment  concedes  that  satiety  of 
blessedness  may  lead  to  lapse.  ^  Such  allowance 
must  be  made  to  the  logic  of  liberty.  But  religion 
cannot  be  permanently  satisfied  with  these  perilous 

'  I  Cor.  iii,  12.  ^De  Princip.,  I,  vi,  2. 

ilbid.,  Ill,  vi,  3.  ^Ibid.,  Ill,  V,  7-8. 

^Ibid.,  Ill,  vi,  4.  Ubid.,  I,  iii,  8. 


At  the  Parting  of  the  Ways      393 

options.  Truth,  beauty,  goodness,  eternally  in 
God,  will  finally  draw  out  a  glad  response — after 
punishments  that  may  last  for  many  ages — even 
from  the  devil  and  his  agents';  stage  after  stage 
they,  too,  will  rise  through  possible  posts  of_duty 
and  of  trust  into  the  sphere  of  the  "things  that 
are  not  seen."  The  process  may  indeed  be 
imperceptible  in  individual  cases  through  ccons 
beyond  number;  some  souls  will  rise  swiftly,  others 
will  lag  behind.  ^  But  as  they  ascend  new  wonders 
will  for  ever  break  upon  their  view.  Enlarged 
in  understanding  they  will  discern  the  disposition 
of  God's  works,  the  causes  of  events,  the  secrets 
of  Providence,  the  mysteries  of  grace.  The  end, 
said  Origen,  is  always  like  the  beginning.^  The 
note  of  the  commencement  was  the  equality  of 
souls.  Will  that  be  realized  again  ?  Will  those  who 
have  sunk  so  far  and  risen  so  slowly,  regain  their 
lost  condition  of  0£o(?  In  the  final  unity  will  the 
bitter  experiences  of  the  past  be  wholly  overcome 
and  leave  no  trace?  Origen  was  less  confident  of 
that,  it  would  seem,  in  after  years.  •*  But  he  never 
lost  the  conviction  that  the  true  destiny  of  the  soul 
was  the  vision  and  understanding  of  God,  which 
could  only  be  realized  through  perfect  purity  of 
heart,  ^  and  would  ultimately  be  attained,  though 

'  De  Princip.,  I,  vi,  3.       '  Ibid.,  Ill,  vi,  6.       3  Ibid.,  1,  vi,  2. 

4  See  the  evidence  from  later  homilies  in  Bigg,  op.  cit.,  p.  233, 
The  interpreter  is  sometimes  in  doubt  whether  the  language 
refers  to  the  issue  of  this  age  or  the  ultimate  "restoration  of  all 
things,"  In  Joann.,  i,  16,  §  191. 

sZ>e  Princip.,  II,  xi,  8. 


394       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

it  might  be  in  varying  measures,  by   each  and 

all. 

Such  were  the  hopes  which  Origen  boldly  pro- 
jected through  the  vistas  of  incalculable  time. 
But  in  the  meanwhile  practical  problems  of 
great  urgency  were  forcing  themselves  on  the 
attention  of  the  churches.  The  first  behevers 
had  habitually  lived  in  an  exalted  moral  en- 
thusiasm. Baptism  had  relieved  them  of  the 
burden  of  past  guilt.  They  had  been  "washed" 
and  "consecrated";  they  were  consequently 
holy;  they  were  at  once  God's  "chosen,"  his 
"servants,"  and  his  "sons."  In  the  impas- 
sioned language  of  the  Apostle  Paul  they  had 
stripped  off  the  old  man  and  put  on  the  new; 
they  had  died  and  even  been  buried  with  Christ, 
they  had  been  raised  with  him,  he  had  been  formed 
in  them,  and  they  were  already  seated  with  him 
' '  in  the  heavenUes. ' '  Such  a  transformation  must 
needs  produce  vast  changes  in  temper  and  conduct; 
yet  there  were  some  who  walked  not  in  Spirit 
but  "disorderly"^;  the  trespasser  still  needed 
rebuke;  temptation  might  yet  claim  its  victims. 
A  strange  and  painful  case  at  Corinth  led  Paul 
to  devote  the  sinner  to  Satan,  ^  in  hope  that  by  the 
infliction  of  penal  death  his  spirit  might  be  saved 
at  the  great  Judgment  Day.  As  the  years  ran  on 
and  the  Lord  did  not  return,  men  still  preserved 

'  I  Thess.  V,  14;  2  Thess.  iii,  11. 

^  I  Cor.  V,  5 ;  cp.  von  Dobschiitz,  Christian  Life  in  the  Primitive 
Church,  p.  389. 


At  the  Parting  of  the  Ways      395 

the  form  of  godliness  but  denied  its  power';  even 
the  presbyters  sometimes  fell  into  sin  and  must 
be  reproved  before  the  whole  congregation^; 
the  sad  example  of  Valcns  and  his  wife  at  Philippi, 
whose  financial  offence  Polycarp  so  deeply  de- 
plored, ^  throws  light  on  the  repeated  demand 
that  elder  or  bishop  shall  be  free  from  the  love  of 
money. 

Pecuniary  unfaithfulness  might  be  forgiven ;  but 
when  those  who  had  shared  in  the  Holy  Spirit 
fell  away,  they  crucified  the  Son  of  God  in  their 
own  persons,  and  no  repentance  could  renew  their 
life."  The  wilful  offender  who  spurned  the  Lord 
had  exhausted  the  benefits  of  redemption ;  for  him 
there  was  no  more  sacrifice  for  sins,  only  "a  certain 
fearful  expectation  of  judgment,  "s  This  dark 
doom  brooded  over  the  Church  at  the  beginning  of 
the  second  century.  The  mysterious  writer  who 
bore  his  testimony  to  the  Word  of  life,  and  told  the 
"children  of  God"  that  those  who  were  begotten 
of  the  Father  could  not  sin,  for  their  seed  remained 
in  them,^  was  well  aware  that  none  could  really 
make  this  august  claim.  Confession,  however, 
might  secure  forgiveness,  ^  save  in  the  irremediable 
case  of  "sin  unto  death. "^  The  first  period  of 
spiritual  elevation  was  passing  away.     When  the 

I  2  Tim.  iii,  1-5.  "  i  Tim.  v,  20. 

iAd  Philipp.,  yd.  ^  Hebrews  vi,  4-6. 

s  Ibid.,  X,  26-31.     «  I  Johi  iii,  1-2,  9;  v,  18.       ^  Ibid.,  i,  8-9. 

*Ibid.,  V,  16.  The  variety  of  the  interpretations  by  the  com- 
mentators shows  the  difficulty  of  this  phrase.  It  probably 
included  loss  of  all  the  privileges  of  salvation. 


396       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

seer  of  Patmos  addresses  seven  representative 
churches,  he  summons  five  of  them  to  immediate 
repentance.^  False  teaching,  possibly  libertinist 
morals,  spiritual  deadness,  pride  of  wealth,  religious 
indifference,  are  among  the  counts  of  the  indict- 
ment. A  little  later  Polycarp  warns  the  Philippians 
against  covetousness,  love  of  money,  evil  speaking, 
false  witness,  anger,  the  spirit  of  retaliation,  unjust 
judgment,  readiness  to  believe  evil.^  How  were 
such  offences  of  sudden  temper  or  habitual  dis- 
position to  be  met?  The  worship  of  the  Church 
was  of  course  designed  to  raise  the  believer  above 
them,  but  before  he  could  fitly  approach  the  holi- 
ness of  God  in  prayer  he  must  at  least  have  sought 
the  divine  forgiveness.  ^  Confession,  accordingly, 
became  the  united  act  of  the  people.  "In  the 
congregation,"  it  was  said  in  the  "Way  of  Life," 
"thou  shalt  confess  thy  transgressions."'*  That 
was  essential  before  the  celebration  of  the  Eucha- 
rist, that  the  offering  might  be  pure.^  Recon- 
ciliation of  the  quarrelsome,  quiet  reproof  without 
anger,  humble  acknowledgment  of  guilt,  these 
were  the  needful  conditions  for  effective  prayer^; 
and  following  Jewish  usage  the  "Way  of  Life" 
regarded  alms  as  a  ransom  for  sin.  The  preacher 
might  declare  fasting  better  than  prayer,  but 
almsgiving  was  superior  to  both^;  "let  us  then 

^  Revel,  ii-iii.  ^  Ad  PUlipp.,  ii,  2;  vi,  I. 

3  Cp.  I  Clem.  Ix,  1-2.     4  Teaching  of  the  XII  Apostles,  iv,  14. 

^  Ibid.,  xiv,  I.  ^Ibid.,  xv,  2;  Ep.  Barnab.,  xix,  12. 
7  2  Clem,  xvi,  4. 


At  the  Parting  of  the  Ways      397 

repent  with  our  whole  heart  that  none  of  us  perish 
by  the  way." 

Such  was  the  language  of  Christians  to  one 
another,  in  view  of  the  austere  demands  of  their 
high  calling.  On  the  outside  world  they  often 
made  a  different  impression.  It  can  hardly  be 
doubted  that  the  most  powerful  of  the  various 
causes  which  gradually  effected  the  conversion 
of  the  Roman  Empire  to  Christianity  was  the 
behaviour  of  the  Christians.  A  note  of  lofty 
moraUty  and  heroic  exultation  is  heard  in  one 
after  another  of  the  Apologists.  The  philosopher 
Aristides  appeals  to  their  chastity,  their  truthful- 
ness, their  beneficence  even  to  their  enemies,  their 
brotherly  help  to  the  stranger  and  the  needy,  their 
readiness  to  sacrifice  their  lives  for  the  sake  of 
Christ.'  Justin  was  convinced  of  their  sincerity 
by  their  bravery  in  death.'  Octavius  points  to 
prisons  full  of  criminals,  where  no  Christian  is  ever 
found  save  on  account  of  his  religion  or  as  a  rene- 
gade. ^  "Their  lot  is  cast  in  the  flesh,"  says 
one  of  their  champions,  "but  they  do  not  live  after 
the  flesh;  they  pass  their  time  upon  earth,  but 
they  have  their  citizenship  in  heaven."''  Seen 
from  within,  however,  this  glowing  idealism  is 
marred  by  ugly  facts.  Writing  near  the  middle 
of  the  second  century  Roman  Hermas  tells  how 
the  angel  of  Repentance  was  sent  in  the  guise  of  an 
old  shepherd  to  dwell  with  him  for  the  rest  of  his 

^ApoL,  XV.  '2  Apol. ,Kn. 

sMinuc.  Fel.,  Odav.,  xxxv.  *Ep.  ad  Diognet.,  v. 


398       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

life.^  In  spite  of  his  prayers  and  confessions  he 
often  harboured  evil  thoughts,  he  had  failed  in 
parental  duty,  he  had  conducted  his  business  by 
lies ;  the  Church  was  invaded  by  all  kinds  of  gross 
and  sordid  sin,  unchastity,  drunkenness,  hypo- 
crisy, malice,  theft,  covetousness,  blasphemy.' 
The  rich  paraded  the  extravagance  of  their  wealth, 
the  double-minded  became  idolaters  through 
cowardice.  The  leaders  must  reform  their  ways, 
there  could  be  no  salvation  after  future  sin. 
With  its  visions,  its  commandments,  and  its  simili- 
tudes or  parables,  the  book  is  one  long  summons 
to  repentance.  The  elder  theory  that  for  grave 
post-baptismal  sin  no  atonement  was  possible, 
had  broken  down.  But  the  Shepherd-angel  is 
authorized  to  announce  one  more  opportunity  of 
repentance.  ^  For  blasphemers  and  apostates,  for 
betrayers  of  the  servants  of  God,  it  was  indeed 
impossible.  ^  But  the  divine  mercy  is  extended  to  a 
long  Hst  of  other  offenders  provided  they  repent 
quickly ;  but  it  must  be  lasting;  the  double-minded 
who  are  always  repenting  after  repeated  sins  have 
no  stability,  and  are  neither  alive  nor  dead.  One 
way,  indeed,  there  is  for  wiping  out  the  guilty  past. 
The  martyr's  death  is  an  effective  baptism  of 
blood.  ^ 

From  different  sides  arose  protests  against  laxity. 
The  followers  of  Marcion  on  the  one  hand,  the 

'  Shepherd,  Vis.  V,  ii  ff.  *  Ibid.,  Mand.  VIII. 

^Ibid.,  rJand.  IV,  iii,  6.  '^  Ibid.,  Simil.  IX,  xix,  I. 

s  Ibid.,  Simil.  IX,  xxviii,  3. 


At  the  Parting  of  the  Ways      399 

Montanists  on  the  other,  demanded  the  utmost 
purity  as  an  essential  condition  of  salvation. 
Bishops  corresponded,  like  Dionysius  of  Corinth' 
and  Pinytus  of  Crete,  with  recommendations  of 
mildness  or  rigour  according  to  their  interpretation 
of  Christian  standards  in  the  midst  of  increasing 
wealth  and  worldliness.  At  Carthage  by  the  end 
of  the  second  century  a  severe  discipline  had  been 
established.  In  his  treatise  on  ' '  Penitence, ' '  written 
soon  after  200  A.  D.,  Tertullian  pleads  for  a  second 
forgiveness;  he  quotes  the  summons  addressed  to 
the  churches  in  the  Apocalypse;  he  applies  the 
parables  of  the  Lost  Sheep,  the  Lost  Drachma,  and 
the  Prodigal  Son.  But  repentance  involves  public 
confession,  known  even  in  Carthage  by  its  Greek 
name  exomologesis.  The  sinner  must  lie  in  sack- 
cloth and  ashes,  he  must  fast  and  groan  and  weep, 
he  must  kneel  to  the  brethren  and  roll  at  the  feet 
of  the  presbyters.  It  was  a  terrible  ordeal,  and 
it  is  not  surprising  that  men  should  have  shrunk 
from  it  or  at  least  postponed  it.  Tertullian  pours 
out  his  mockery  on  their  reluctance — ' '  Is  it  better 
to  be  damned  in  secret  than  absolved  in  pubHc? " — 
and  asks  whether  they  would  prefer  to  see  the 
dandy  with  hair  duly  parted,  teeth  polished  with 
powder,  and  nails  cleaned  with  a  little  fork  of  brass 
or  steel,  presenting  himself  in  scarlet  and  purple 
for  the  forgiveness  of  his  sins.  ^  There  was  a  way, 
indeed,  of  help,  which  was  to  grow  into  a  grave 

»SeeLect.  Ill,  p.  189. 

*De  Pamitcnt.,  ix-xi;  cp.  De  Pudicitia,  xiii. 


400  Phases  of  Early  Christianity- 
abuse  fifty  years  later.  Those  who  could  not  find 
"peace"  in  the  Church  sometimes  resorted  to  the 
imprisoned  martyrs,  and  obtained  it  from  them.* 
Adulterers  might  apparently,  be  re-admitted  to 
communion,  but  homicides  and  idolaters  were 
permanently  excluded.  ^ 

Later  in  life,  after  adopting  Montanist  principles 
TertulHan  wrote  a  second  tract  on  "Modesty." 
It  was  evoked  by  a  report  that  Callistus  of  Rome 
(218-223  A.D.),3  whom  he  sarcastically  describes 
as  Pontifex  Maximus,  "Supreme  Pontiff  and  Bishop 
of  Bishops,"  had  announced  his  intention — Ter- 
tulHan calls  it  "issuing  an  edict" — of  remitting 
sins  of  adultery  and  fornication  after  due  penance.  '• 
There  is  some  doubt  how  far  this  simply  sanctioned 
former  practice,  or  involved  any  novelty  of  treat- 
ment. Gross  sinners  might  be  excluded  from 
church  privileges  altogether.  Or  they  might  be 
admitted  to  its  worship,  but  denied  participation 
in  the  Eucharist,  and  left  to  the  judgment  of  God. 
A  third  course  was  recognized  by  Callistus  who 
allowed  them  to  receive  the  sacrament,  and  thus 
restored  them  to  full  communion;  and  this  must 
surely  have  been  the  meaning  of  the  Martyrs' 

^Ad  Martyr.,  xi.  "Peace"  meant  ecclesiastical  forgiveness 
and  restoration. 

=  Cp.  Vanbeck,  Revue  d'Histoire  et  de  Litterature  Religieuses, 
iii,  p.  365. 

3  This  is  the  usual  identification  of  the  unnamed  bishop.  The 
alternative  is  his  predecessor  Zephyrinus. 

"De  Pudicit.,1.  Cp.  Prof.  Swete,  Journ.  of  Theol.  Studies, 
iv,  p.  327:  Vanbeck,  Revue,  p.  367. 


At  the  Parting  of  the  Ways      401 

pax  which  had  evoked  Tertulllan's  earlier  protest. 
Tertullian  now  drew  a  clear  distinction  between 
sins  to  which  the  Church  might  extend  forgiveness 
and  those  for  which  there  was  no  remission.  The 
Christian's  daily  prayer  covered  such  offences  as 
anger,  evil-speaking,  violation  of  a  man's  plighted 
word,  lying  from  bashfulness  or  necessity:  how 
many  were  the  temptations  of  business,  official 
duty,  trade,  food,  the  senses!  Were  there  no 
pardon  for  such  sins  as  these,  salvation  would  be 
unattainable  by  any.  But  for  idolatry,  adultery, 
homicide,  the  Church  could  grant  no  peace'; 
for  fraud,  apostasy,  blasphemy,  Christ  would  not 
intercede;  the  perpetrator  ceased  to  be  a  son  of 
God.^ 

It  may  seem  strange  that  such  offenders  could 
be  found  among  the  "saints. "  But  the  spread  of 
Christianity  had  brought  men  and  women  of  all 
ranks  into  the  fold.  In  the  second  century  Celsus 
had  contemptuously  described  the  converts  as  the 
ignorant  and  uneducated,  the  silly,  mean,  and 
stupid,  women,  children,  slaves.  Two  or  three 
generations  later  Origcn  could  assert  that  the  rich 
and  noble,  men  of  rank  and  office,  delicate  and 
high-born  ladies,  received  the  Christians'  teach- 
ing. ^  As  the  range  of  believers  widened,  super- 
vision over  the  lives  of  church-members,  especially 
in  the  great  urban  congregations,  became  more 
necessary.     Those  who  led  dissolute  lives  must  be 

'  De  PudiciL,  xii.  '  Ibid.,  xix. 

3  Contra  Cds.,  Ill,  ix,  .\liv,  xlix. 
26 


402  ^  Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

excluded.     The  Pythagoreans,   observed   Origen, 
put  up  a  cenotaph  to  a  disciple  who  fell  away  from 
their  communion;  he  was  spiritually  dead.     The 
Church  received  back  its  transgressors  after  a  time, 
but  refused  to  admit  them  to  posts  of  influence  or 
office.^     On  what  conditions,  then,  was  such  re- 
ception possible?     Replying  to  an  objection  that 
Christians  were  worse  off  than  Jews  for  whom  the 
Law  provided  effective  sacrifices  of  atonement, 
Origen  enumerates  seven  means  of  obtaining  re- 
mission of  sins,  baptism,  martyrdom,  alms,  for- 
giveness of  others'  trespasses,  the  conversion  of  a 
sinner,    abundance    of    charity,    and   penitence." 
This  last  method  involved  confession,  and  public 
confession  required  humble  resolve  to  face  con- 
tempt and  jeers.     Origen,  therefore,  recommended 
careful  consideration  about  the  mode.     Some  man 
of   experience   and  insight   should  be   consulted 
(whether  cleric  or  layman  is  not  specified);  if  he 
decided  that  the  sinner's  malady  needed  to  be 
exposed  and  healed  before  the  whole  Church,  that 
course  must  be  adopted;  pubHc  confession  relieved 
a  troubled  conscience  like  sickness  from  an  over- 
loaded stomach.  3     Tears  and  good  works  might 
avail  for  common  faults;  but  after  grave  crimes 
readmission  to  communion  could  only  be  granted 
after    due    penance.     Apostates,    indeed,    could 
never  re-enter;  and  for  other  sins  sentence  of 

'  Contra  Cels.,  Ill,  li.  '  Homil.  in  LeviL,  ii,  4. 

i  Homil.  ii,  in  Psalm,  xxxvii,  ii,  i,  2,  6;  Vanbeck,  Revue,  iii, 
P-  554- 


At  the  Parting  of  the  Ways      403 

excommunication  should  be  rare ;  extreme  severity 
might  terrorize  dcUnquents.  There  were,  indeed, 
grave  signs  of  danger  in  other  directions.  Bishops, 
especially  in  the  great  cities,  were  apt  to  be  proud 
and  arrogant  like  earthly  princes;  in  the  exercise 
of  power  they  might  not  be  above  partiality;  and 
the  claims  of  confessors  to  the  privilege  of  granting 
absolution  tended  to  increase.'  During  the  half- 
century  of  Origen's  labours  as  teacher  these  perils 
became  more  definite.  The  outbreak  of  persecu- 
tion under  Decius  rendered  them  still  more  acute. 
The  decisive  direction  for  the  development  of  the 
future  was  given  by  the  great  bishop  of  Carthage, 
Thascius  Caecilius  Cyprianus  (248-258  A.D.), 

Nearly  fifty  years  had  passed  since  Tertullian 
began  to  issue  his  passionate  pleas  for  his  co- 
behevers,  and  lifted  North  African  Christianity  into 
historic  significance.  Carthage  remained  gay, 
brilliant,  dissolute.  No  voice  was  raised  in  warn- 
ing or  rebuke  till  there  sat  in  the  bishop's  chair  a 
man  of  whom  it  was  told  long  afterwards  in  Italy 
that  he  used  daily  to  say  to  his  secretary  ''Da 
Magistrum, "  and  the  notary  handed  him  a  volume 

'  Cp.  Vanbeck,  Revue,  iv,  p.  119  ff.  In  the  Homilies  on  Mat- 
thew xii,  14,  Origen  lays  it  down  (on  Matt,  xvi,  19),  in  contrast 
with  certain  champions  of  episcopal  power  that  only  those  can 
bind  and  loose  like  Peter  who  have  Peter's  way  of  Ufe.  Those 
who  are  bound  by  their  own  sins  cannot  loose  those  of  others. 
The  church  officer  who  unwarrantably  assumes  such  power  is 
ignorant  of  the  purport  of  the  Scriptures,  is  puffed  up  with 
pride,  and  falls  like  the  devil.  Cp.  Swete,  Journal,  iv,  p.  332; 
Bigg,  Christian  Platonists,  p.  215. 


404       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

of  Tertullian.  ^  Cyprian,  likewise,  was  an  author. 
He,  too,  pleaded  for  Christianity  against  the  cur- 
rent idolatries  and  the  perverse  Jews.  He,  too, 
was  the  champion  of  martyrs  and  the  critic  of 
society.  He,  too,  wrote  on  the  dress  of  virgins,  on 
patience  and  prayer,  on  grace  and  penitence.  But 
he  was  neither  by  training  nor  by  temperament  a 
theologian  or  a  teacher.  His  place  among  the 
formative  influences  in  the  development  of  Christ- 
ianity is  that  of  a  great  ecclesiastic  who  framed  a 
definite  conception  of  the  Church  and  of  the  rights 
and  duties  of  its  bishops,  and  established  the  epis- 
copate as  the  bond  of  its  unity  and  the  instrument 
of  its  power.  ^  Nearly  two  hundred  years  would 
pass  before  the  third  great  African  writer,  philo- 
sopher, controversialist,  mystic,  would  arise  in 
the  genius  of  Augustine,  and  complete  the  scheme 
of  faith,  doctrine,  and  morals  which  Leo  and 
Gregory  would  impose  upon  the  West. 

Born  probably  near  the  beginning  of  the 
century,  Cyprian  belonged  to  one  of  the  high 
senatorial  families  of  Carthage.  Wealthy,  distin- 
guished, with  every  advantage  of  education  and 
rank,  he  looked  forward  naturally  to  a  public 
career.  He  had  amused  himself  like  other  gilded 
youths,  but  he  had  friends  among  the  Christians 
as  well  as  among  the  supporters  of  the  popular 

'  Jerome,  De  Viris  Illustr.,  liii. 

*  Of  this  his  letters,  8i  in  number,  and  his  treatises  on  "The 
Lapsed"  and  "The  Unity  of  the  Church,"  are  the  chief  expres- 
sion. See  the  edition  of  his  works  in  the  Corpus  Scriptorum 
Ecclesiasticorum  Latinorum,  by  Hartel,  3  vols.,  1868-71. 


At  the  Parting  of  the  Ways      405 

religion,  and  in  spite  of  some  vehemence  of  temper, 
which  could  not  well  brook  opposition,  he  must 
have  been  attractive  and  lovable,  for  his  friend- 
ships outside  the  Church  continued  to  the  end. 
He  lived  in  the  whirl  of  a  great  city.  Dress 
and  society,  wine  and  dissipation,  occupied  his 
thoughts.  A  crowd  of  clients  brought  him  dignity ; 
it  was  a  punishment  to  be  alone.  But,  as  he 
tells  his  friend  Donatus  shortly  after  his  conver- 
sion, other  voices  kept  reaching  him  with  insistent 
call.  Looking  back,  he  saw  himself  lying  in 
darkness,  or  tossed  on  the  foam  of  a  boastful  age, 
uncertain  of  his  wandering  steps,  met  again  and 
again  by  the  demand  ' '  Thou  must  be  born  again. ' ' ' 
"Impossible,"  he  argued  to  himself;  "how  can  I 
put  off  what  I  have  been  ?  How  can  the  laver  of 
saving  water  change  my  heart  and  soul?"  The 
world  still  clung  around  him,  and  in  his  despair 
of  better  things  he  sinned  the  more.  By  what 
process  his  friend  CaeciHan,  a  presbyter  in  the 
Church,  induced  him  to  prepare  for  baptism,  is  not 
recorded.  It  brought  peace  to  his  struggles,  and 
filled  him  with  gratitude  for  new  gifts  of  innocence 
and  power.  "I  came  to  see  that  the  life  which  I 
had  been  Hving  in  the  practice  of  sin,  was  of  the 
earth,  and  that  which  was  quickened  by  the  Holy 
Spirit  began  to  be  of  God.  "  "^ 

With  the  promptitude  of  a  passionate  nature 
eager  to  pledge  itself  as  fully  as  possible  to  a  new 

»  Ad  Donat.,  iii;  Hartel,  i,  p.  5. 
'Ibid.,  iv;  Hartel,  i,  p.  6. 


4o6       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

way  of  life,  he  sold  his  estates,  and  distributed  the 
proceeds  among  the  poor. '  Friends,  it  would  seem, 
afterwards  restored  some  of  his  possessions,  but 
in  the  first  glow  of  renunciation  he  went  to  live 
with  his  friend  Cascilian,  who,  on  his  deathbed, 
made  him  guardian  of  his  wife  and  children. 
Within  a  year  of  his  baptism  he  appears  to  have 
been  ordained  as  presbyter.  A  year  later  (248- 
249  A.D.)  the  bishop's  chair  became  vacant. 
Writing  in  after  years  to  Spain,  ^  he  laid  down  "the 
practice  delivered  from  divine  tradition  and  apos- 
tolic observance."  For  the  proper  celebration  of 
ordination  all  the  neighbouring  bishops  of  the  same 
province  should  assemble  with  the  congregation 
needing  a  pastor,  and  the  bishop  should  be  chosen 
in  the  presence  of  those  most  fully  acquainted 
with  each  man's  life  and  conduct.  Clergy  and 
laity  thus  joined  in  the  election.  Cyprian  was  no 
doubt  the  most  eminent  among  recent  adherents 
of  the  Church  in  Carthage.  His  sacrifices  of 
property  and  position  were  known  to  all.  But  he 
was  junior  in  Christian  standing,  probably  also  in 
age ;  and  when  he  saw  that  the  feeling  of  the  assem- 
bly was  pointing  to  him,  he  withdrew  from  the 
meeting  in  favour  of  others  older  and  more  worthy 
than  he.  ^  The  eager  crowd  would  not  be  baulked 
of  their  desire.  They  swept  through  the  streets, 
surrounded  his  house,  and  refused  to  depart  till 

^  Pontius,  Vita  Cypr.,  xii;  Hartel,  iii,  p.  xcii. 

'  Ep.  Ixvii,  5 ;  Hartel,  ii,  p.  739. 

3  Pontius,  Vita  Cypr.,  v;  Hartel,  iii,  p.  xcv. 


At  the  Parting  of  the  Ways      407 

he  had  given  his  consent.  Five  presbyters,  in- 
deed, voted  against  him,  and  sometimes  made  his 
way  difficult  afterwards.  But  as  he  looked  back 
after  four  years  he  could  speak  of  himself  as  chosen 
in  time  of  peace  by  the  suffrage  of  an  entire  people, 
and  faithfully  united  with  all  his  colleagues. '  It 
was  not  long  before  the  peace  was  rudely  broken, 
and  a  new  period  of  storm  and  stress  began. 

Meanwhile  Cyprian  bade  his  friend  Donatus  sit 
with  him  on  some  mountain  top  and  survey  the 
world  below.  What  pity  would  fill  his  mind  at 
the  spectacle  of  human  sorrow,  suffering,  and  sin. 
The  roads  were  blocked  by  robbers;  the  sea  was 
beset  by  pirates;  wars  were  scattered  everywhere, 
and  the  whole  world  was  wet  with  blood.  The 
people  were  depraved  by  the  gladiatorial  shows, 
the  combats  with  wild  beasts,  the  shameful  dis- 
plays of  the  adulteries  of  the  gods  which  turned 
crimes  into  religion.  What  hideous  unchastities 
were  veiled  in  the  chambers  of  night,  what  shame- 
ful maladministration  of  justice  was  practised  in 
the  courts,  what  bribery  of  judges  and  perjury 
of  witnesses,  what  extravagance  of  luxury  and 
contempt  of  the  poor — such  were  the  daily  scandals 
of  the  world.  And  the  corruptions  of  society  had 
infested  the  Church.  Grave  is  the  picture  which 
he  draws  in  his  tract  upon  ' '  The  Lapsed. ' '  ^  Among 
the  priests  was  no  devout  rehgion,  in  their  minis- 
try no  sound  faith,  in  their  works  no  mercy,  in 

'  Ep.  lix,  6;  Hartcl,  ii,  p.  673. 
'  De  Lapsis,  vi;  Hartel,  i,  p.  240. 


4o8       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

their  manners  no  discipline.  Dyed  complexions 
and  hair  stained  with  falsehood  among  the  women 
were  matched  by  fraud  and  false  oaths  among  the 
men.  Numbers  of  bishops  forsook  their  congre- 
gations to  make  money.  They  became  agents  in 
secular  business;  they  travelled  into  other  pro- 
vinces ;  while  the  brethren  were  starving  in  church, 
they  were  trying  to  lay  up  wealth.  They  snatched 
estates  by  trickery,  and  charged  high  interest  on 
loans.  "What  do  not  such  as  we  deserve  to  suffer 
for  sins  of  this  kind ! ' '  Dissimulanda  fratres  Veritas 
non  est.^ 

Cyprian  himself  set  an  example  of  self-denial, 
if  not  of  austerity.  He  never,  like  Tertullian, 
assumed  the  philosopher's  cloak  as  the  symbol  of 
plain  living  and  high  thinking,  nor  did  he  break 
off  his  relations  with  non-Christians.  But  while 
maintaining  simplicity  of  habit,  even  after  his 
beautiful  gardens  had  been  restored  to  him,  he 
laid  a  firm  hand  on  Church  organization  and  be- 
came its  inspiring  force.  He  claimed,  indeed,  no 
superior  authority  over  his  fellow-bishops.  He 
anxiously  recognized  that  each  was  responsible 
to  his  own  flock,  and  was  as  it  were  the  embodi- 
ment by  their  own  choice  of  their  collective  will. 
It  is  in  this  sense  that  he  writes  to  an  antagonist, 
or  at  least  a  critic,  "You  ought  to  know  that  the 

'  De  Lapsis,  xi;  Hartel,  i,  p.  244.  Cp.  the  case  of  the  "virgines 
subintroductcs"  (ante,  p.  42)  discussed  in  Ep.  iv.  The  practice 
seems  to  have  been  not  uncommon;  "corrumpi  plurimas  virgines 
.    .    .  conspicimus, "  §  2. 


At  the  Parting  of  the  Ways      409 

bishop  is  in  the  Church  and  the  Church  in  the 
bishop"';  each  is  independent,  none  has  authority 
over  others.     He  might  gather  seventy  or  eighty 
together  in  synods  at  Carthage,  for  mutual  counsel, 
and  he  naturally  presided  as  chairman;  but  he 
disclaimed  all  jurisdiction  over  them.     Yet  after 
all  he  was  bishop  of  the  second  city  of  the  West, 
a  man  of  rank  as  well  as  personal  force,  and  he 
could  not  help  expressing  his  opinion  in  language  of 
which  moderation  was  not  always  the  chief  char- 
acteristic, so  that  he  was  sometimes  rebuked  by 
correspondents  for  want  of  modesty.     In  his  own 
church,  however,  he  was  always  anxious  to  pre- 
serve due  regard  for  popular  rights.     "From  the 
beginning   of  my   episcopate,"   he   wrote  to   his 
presbyters  and  deacons,  ^  "  I  resolved  to  do  nothing 
by  my  own  private  opinion  without  your  advice 
and  the  consent  of  the  people. "     His  early  letters 
are  filled  with  allusions  to  such  concert.     In  the 
ordination  of  clergy,  the  appointment  of  readers, 
the  administration  of  church  funds,  he  always  took 
the  people  into  counsel;  though  in  after  years, 
when  events  separated  him  from  his  flock  for  long 
periods    together,    his    tone    (especially    against 
opponents)  became  more  peremptory.     This  tend- 
ency was  heightened  by  his  firm  belief  in  the  in- 
fluence of  spiritual  powers.     In  the  case  of  evil 
agencies  this  took  the  form  of  demoniacal  pos- 
session. ^     To  the  Christian  divine  intimations  were 

'  Ep.  Ixvi,  8 ;  Hartel,  ii,  p.  733.     ="  Ep.  xiv,  4;  Hartcl,  ii,  p.  512. 
3  Cp.  Ad  Demetrianum,  xv;  Hartcl,  i,  p.  361. 


410       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

imparted  by  vision  and  dream.  Such  privileges 
were  freely  accorded  to  himself;  they  played  a 
great  part  in  his  later  life,  and  seemed  to  arm  him 
with  supernatural  authority. 

The  grave  estimate  which  Cyprian  had  formed 
of  the  condition  of  the  Church,  led  him  to  reaffirm 
in  his  first  work,  "Testimonies  against  the  Jews," 
the  ancient  principle  that  there  was  no  forgiveness 
for  sins  against  God. '  It  was  soon  to  be  severely 
tested.  The  Emperor  Decius  resolved  to  suppress 
Christianity,  and  in  January,  250  A.D.,  the  per- 
secution began.  To  Cyprian  the  disorders  of  the 
world  and  the  corruptions  of  the  Church  had  seemed 
to  call  for  some  penal  catastrophe,  ^  and  the  out- 
break bore  the  character  of  a  divine  judgment. 
The  leaders  were  the  first  objects  of  attack,  ^  and 
Bishop  Fabian  was  executed  at  Rome  on  January 
20th.  The  imperial  edict  did  not  reach  Carthage 
till  February  when  it  at  once  kindled  the  popular 
anger.  The  crowds  in  the  circus  cried  out  for 
Cyprian.  Under  the  advice  of  his  friends,  and 
believing  himself  divinely  warned  to  retire,  Cy- 
prian  withdrew.  4     His  flight   excited  much   un- 

'  Testimon.,  iii,  28.  The  text-proofs  are  Matt,  xii,  32;  Mark 
iii,  28;  I  Sam.  ii,  25.  What  sins  were  included  in  this  class 
Cyprian  did  not  specify. 

^  The  situation  was  repeated  half  a  century  later,  under 
Diocletian,  cp.  Euseb.,  Hist.  Eccles.,  VIII,  i-ii. 

•5  Cp.  ante,  p.  369. 

"  Cp.  the  letter  of  Dionysius  of  Alexandria  (Euseb.,  Hist.  Eccl., 
VI,  xl),  who  remained  four  days  in  his  house  waiting  arrest,  while 
search  was  made  for  him  elsewhere,  and  was  then  commanded 
by  God  to  depart. 


At  the  Parting  of  the  Ways      411 

favourable  comment,  the  Roman  clergy  (who  did 
not  venture  to  elect  another  bishop  for  a  year  and 
a  half)  being  especially  critical.  But  his  splendid 
conduct  in  the  great  plague,  and  the  cheerfulness 
(as  Gibbon  notes)  with  which  he  met  death  eight 
years  later,  amply  justified  him.  More  than  a 
year  was  spent  in  retreat.  It  was  no  time  of  idle 
leisure ;  he  was  engaged  in  incessant  activity.  On 
the  church  administration  he  kept  a  firm  hold; 
he  directed  its  affairs  by  constant  correspondence ; 
he  forwarded  regular  sums  of  money  raised  from 
his  property  for  the  martyrs  in  prison,  the  poor 
who  were  thrown  out  of  employment,  the  widows 
and  orphans  who  were  left  desolate. 

A  whole  generation  of  Christians  had  grown  up 
in  peace.  They  had  duly  commemorated  the 
martyrs  in  church  anniversaries,  they  had  no  idea 
of  being  called  to  suffer  with  them.  Exceptional 
cruelties  of  imprisonment,  severities  of  torture, 
the  sword,  the  wild  beasts,  the  stake  and  the  fire, 
involved  the  loyalty  of  believers  in  dreadful  strain. 
Many  of  the  city  clergy  fled;  country  bishops 
followed  Cyprian's  example;  there  was  a  difficulty 
in  maintaining  the  daily  ministrations.  Others, 
including  many  of  the  laity,  gave  way  altogether 
and  fell  from  the  faith.  These  were  the  "lapsed, " 
in  different  degrees  of  guilt.  Some  consented  to 
sacrifice  before  the  emperor's  statue  (sacrificad); 
others  procured  certificates  {libelli)  from  magis- 
trates by  favour  or  even  purchase,  exempting 
them  from  this  demand  or  stating  that  they  had 


412       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

conformed  {lihellaiici) .  When  the  severity  of  per- 
secution began  to  abate,  many  desired  reinstate- 
ment in  their  old  communion.  Bishops  sought  to 
resume  their  office,  clergy  claimed  to  return  to  their 
duties.  Difficulties  at  once  arose,  for  apostasy  had 
always  been  counted  as  a  "sin  against  God." 
What  possibility,  then,  was  there  of  forgiveness? 

There  were  doubtless  modifying  circumstances. 
The  older  type  of  apostasy  had  often  arisen  from 
weariness  of  the  burdens  and  self-denials  which 
the  Christian  life  involved.  Conversion  had  been 
incomplete;  the  old  Adam  had  only  been  tempor- 
arily expelled  and,  like  Nature,  insisted  on  return- 
ing again.  But  many  now  were  taken  unawares. 
The  two  classes  of  the  sacrificati  and  the  lihellatici 
might  be  distinguished.  Even  the  graver  guilt 
of  those  who  had  sacrificed  admitted  of  degrees. 
One  had  done  so  readily,  another  only  after  long 
struggle  and  under  compulsion ;  one  had  betrayed 
his  connexions  and  friends,  another  had  imperilled 
himself  to  protect  wife  and  children  and  household.  ^ 
The  matter  was  complicated  by  the  action  of  some 
of  the  imprisoned  confessors.  They  took  upon 
themselves  to  issue  letters  saying  that  they  had 
granted  "Peace"  (ecclesiastical  absolution  and 
the  right  of  communion)  to  the  persons  therein 
named). ^    Had    there   been    only    a   few    cases, 

'  Cp.  Ep.  Iv,  13;  Hartel,  ii,  p.  633. 

^  For  this  practice  in  Tertullian's  day  cp.  ante,  p.  400;  at  Alex- 
andria Dionysius  had  to  deal  with  the  same  difficulty,  Euseb., 
Hist.  EccL,  VI,  xlii.     These  letters  were  also  called  libelli. 


At  the  Parting  of  the  Ways      413 

Cyprian  might  have  let  them  alone.  Their 
multitude,  however,  gravely  threatened  the  main- 
tenance of  discipline.  In  the  active  correspond- 
ence carried  on  with  the  Roman  clergy  Cyprian 
complained  that  thousands  were  being  granted 
daily. '  The  door  was  opened  to  all  sorts  of  abuse. 
A  certain  Lucian  granted  peace  in  the  name  of  a 
dead  martyr  Paul;  certificates  were  given  admit- 
ting A.  B.  to  communion  "alongwith  his  friends"  ^; 
and  this  was  extended  in  a  curt  notice  to  "Father 
Cyprian"  {Cypriano  Papati)  that  "all  the  Con- 
fessors" had  granted  peace  to  all  the  lapsed  whose 
conduct  after  their  sin  might  be  reckoned  satis- 
factory.^ This  information  Cyprian  was  com- 
manded to  communicate  to  the  other  bishops. 

The  situation  was  full  of  difficulty,  and  already 
threatened  to  divide  the  Church.  There  was  a 
party  of  laxity  at  Carthage,  and  a  party  of  vigour, 
led  by  Novatian,-*  at  Rome.  When  Cyprian 
returned  from  his  retreat  in  the  spring  of  251,  he 
made  earnest  efforts  to  secure  unity  of  action,  and 
in  accordance  with  an  intention  long  foreshadowed 
in  his  letters  he  summoned  a  council  to  consider 
the    proper    course,  s     Bishops,    presbyters,    and 

'  Ep.  XX,  2;  Hartel,  ii,  p.  528. 

'  Ep.  XV,  4,  "communicet  ille  cum  suis";  Hartcl,  ii,  p.  516. 

^  Ep.  xxiii;  Hartcl,  ii,  p.  536. 

••By  birth  a  Phrygian;  before  his  conversion  a  philosopher, 
probably  a  Stoic. 

s  It  was  said  to  be  the  first  held  for  fifty  years.  Agrippinus, 
the  last  bishop  but  one  before  Cyprian,  had  gathered  one  early 
in  the  century;  its  precise  date  is  unknown. 


414       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

deacons  were  assembled.  The  meetings  were 
protracted,  and  Cyprian  (who  had  just  issued  his 
famous  essay  or  oration  on  "The  Unity  of  the 
CathoHc  Church")  acquiesced  in  treatment  some- 
what less  severe  than  his  early  letters  had  implied.  ^ 
Those  who  had  sacrificed  and  had  given  evidence 
of  heartfelt  sorrow  might  be  received  into  com- 
munion when  in  danger  of  death,  for  there  was  no 
further  confession  in  the  grave,  but  this  conces- 
sion could  not  be  granted  to  those  who  remained 
impenitent  till  their  last  hour.  The  cases  of  the 
libellatici  must  be  examined  individually ;  the  adul- 
terer in  Cyprian's  view  was  guilty  of  the  greater 
sin,  and  he  was  re-admitted  after  due  penitence; 
the  libellatici  did  not  deserve  severer  treatment.* 
The  various  claims  of  different  parties  were  not, 
however,  fully  reconciled.  The  Roman  clergy 
had  elected  Cornelius  as  their  bishop,  and  the 
resolutions  adopted  at  Carthage  won  the  approval 
of  the  older  Church.^  But  a  serious  schism  had 
already   begun.     The    supporters    of    Novatian's 

'  The  matter  was  complicated  by  misconduct  on  the  part  of 
some  of  the  confessors  themselves.  He  actually  charges  some  of 
them  with  frauds  and  adulteries  after  their  confession,  De  Unitate, 
xx;  Hartel,  i,  p.  228. 

^  Ep.  Iv,  17,  23,  26.  On  the  meaning  of  Ubellaticos  interim  ad- 
mitti,  17,  see  Vanbeck,  Revue  d' His toire  et  de  Litterature  Religieuses, 
iv,  p.  428. 

3  A  letter  from  Cornelius  to  Fabius  of  Antioch  (preserved  by 
Eusebius,  Hist.  EccL,  VI,  xhii),  reckons  46  presbyters,  7  deacons,  7 
subdeacons,  42  acolytes,  52  exorcists,  readers,  and  janitors,  and 
over  1500  widows  and  poor.  On  the  numbers  implied  by  these 
figures  see  different  estimates  in  Benson's  Cyprian,  p.  68. 


At  the  Parting  of  the  Ways      415 

stricter  views  disapproved  of  the  restoration  of 
apostates  to  the  Church  on  earth.  They  would 
not  indeed  shut  them  out  from  all  hope  of  salva- 
tion; that  decision  lay  with  God  alone;  but  they 
stood  for  the  ancient  discipline,  and  refused  to 
allow  them  the  privileges  of  communion.  They 
charged  Cornelius  with  laxity,  and  even  with 
having  protected  himself  with  a  certificate'; 
and  after  his  elevation  to  the  episcopal  chair  in 
March,  251,  they  proceeded  to  appoint  a  rival 
bishop  in  the  person  of  Novatian.^  It  was  the 
beginning  of  a  schism  that  threatened  for  a  time 
to  rend  the  Church  in  twain.  The  austere  views 
of  Christian  purity  which  had  found  champions 
at  Rome  in  the  days  of  Hermas,  which  the  Phry- 
gian Montanists  had  embraced  with  such  enthusi- 
asm, which  the  Donatists  were  to  maintain  against 
Augustine  a  century  and  a  half  later,  were  em- 
bodied by  Novatian  and  his  followers  in  a  move- 
ment of  far-reaching  significance.  They  called 
themselves  the  Kathari,  or  "the  Pure";  they  were 
the  first  Puritans.  Of  unquestioned  orthodoxy, 
they  established  their  bishops  in  the  chief  cities 
of  the  empire;  they  attended  Church  councils; 

^  Ep.  Iv,  10;  Hartel,  ii,  p.  631. 

^The  bitter  feeling  engendered  by  this  opposition  is  painfully 
apparent  in  the  story  retailed  by  Cornelius  to  Fabius  in  the 
letter  already  quoted,  about  the  three  bishops  who  were  fetched 
from  insignificant  country  churches  in  Italy  to  perform  the  con- 
secration. It  was  alleged  that  they  were  made  drunk  and  sick, 
and  in  that  condition  were  compelled  to  confer  the  episcopal 
character  by  the  imposition  of  hands! 


4i6       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

they  suffered  persecutions,  they  had  their  martyrs 
and  saints.  When  the  Arians  were  in  the  ascend- 
ant in  the  fourth  century,  CathoHcs  often  fre- 
quented the  churches  of  the  Novatians;  but  in 
spite  of  a  common  theology  no  permanent  union 
could  overcome  the  deep-seated  difference  of  ec- 
clesiastical theory.  From  southern  Gaul  and 
Spain  they  were  to  be  found  all  the  way  to  the  East, 
where  their  principles  won  active  support  in  Asia 
Minor.  Alternately  favoured  and  oppressed  by  dif- 
erent  emperors  they  failed  in  the  long  run  to  main- 
tain their  ground,  and  disappeared  after  the  seventh 
century.  But  the  tendency  which  evoked  Nova- 
tian's  protest  against  lax  interpretations  of  the  terms 
of  Christian  communion,  helped  to  shape  more  than 
one  attempt  to  enforce  higher  standards  of  Church 
sanctity.  The  Albigenses  and  Waldenses  of  the 
Middle  Ages  espoused  kindred  conceptions,  which 
were  not  without  influence  on  later  Puritanism. 

The  Novatianists  established  a  congregation  in 
Carthage  with  a  bishop  of  its  own,  and  Cyprian 
had  to  face  opposition  from  yet  another  group  of 
dissentients  who  were  in  favour  of  a  laxer  treat- 
ment than  the  Council  had  adopted.  Aided  by  the 
five  presbyters  who  had  voted  against  Cyprian's 
election,  they  led  a  schism  in  a  counter  direction, 
and  added  a  third  bishop  to  the  distracted  Church. 
Meanwhile  grave  danger  hung  over  the  city. 
While  a  second  council  was  being  held  in  252,  the 
great  plague  was  slowly  travelling  thither  from  the 
East.     It  had  invaded  Egypt,  and  in  the  course  of 


At  the  Parting  of  the  Ways      417 

fifteen  years  it  reduced  the  population  of  Alexan- 
dria by  one-half.'  It  destroyed  the  armies  of 
Valerian  before  Sapor;  it  kept  the  Goths  off  Thrace 
and  ravaged  Rome  so  fiercely  that  in  262  five 
thousand  sufferers  died  in  one  single  day.^  The 
outbreak  in  Carthage  was  severe.  Those  who 
could  quitted  the  city  in  haste,  and  left  the  streets 
(says  Deacon  Pontius)  ^  strewn  with  bodies  which 
there  was  no  one  to  bury.  Cyprian  gathered  his 
people,  raised  a  large  relief  fund,  organized  a  band 
of  nurses  for  the  sufferers,  and  another  to  collect 
and  inter  the  dead,  and  urged  the  duty  of  minister- 
ing to  friend  and  foe  alike  without  religious  dis- 
tinction. In  an  impassioned  tract,  De  Mortalitate, 
he  described  the  crisis  as  putting  every  relation 
to  the  test,  whether  the  healthy  would  tend  the 
sick,  kinsfolk  fulfil  family  duty,  masters  look  after 
their  stricken  slaves.  In  spite  of  their  beneficent 
labours  the  Christians  were  still  marked  men; 
they  held  aloof  from  the  processions  and  sacrifices 
organized  for  intercession  with  the  tutelary  gods 
of  the  city;  and  the  cry  rose  again,  "The  Bishop 
to  the  lions! "  The  work  lasted  for  five  years,  and 
when  Cyprian  again  withdrew  on  a  further  out- 
break of  persecution  it  seemed  to  his  deacon  a 
release  from  a  horror  like  hell.'' 

'  Cp.  Gibbon,  chap,  x,  ad  fin. 

'  Benson,  Cyprian,  p.  242.  Gibbon  supposes  this  was  the  daily 
number  for  some  time. 

3  Vita  Cypr.,  ix. 

■*  Cp.  Cyprian's  prompt  measures  for  the  redemption  of  themem- 
bersof  eight  Numidian  churches,  carried  off  inaBerberraid,£/'.lxii. 

27 


41 8       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

The  plague  was  already  subsiding  when  a  new 
controversy  broke  out.  When  heretics  applied  for 
admission  into  the  Catholic  Church,  should  their 
previous  baptism  be  reckoned  valid,  or  must  they 
be  rebaptized?  Founding  himself  on  the  concep- 
tion of  Catholic  unity,  Cyprian  declared  all  bap- 
tism outside  it  worthless.  There  could  be  only 
one  Baptism  because  there  was  only  one  Faith. 
If  anyone  could  be  lawfully  baptized  among  here- 
tics, he  could  also  obtain  remission  of  sins.  If  his 
sins  were  forgiven,  he  was  also  sanctified.  If  he 
was  sanctified,  he  was  made  the  temple  of  God.  ' '  I 
ask  of  what  God?"  cried  Cyprian  triumphantly,^ 
and  paraded  different  types  of  disqualifying  heresy 
affecting  the  Creator  and  Christ,  Marcionite  and 
Monarchian.  Custom  was  invoked  to  support 
argument.  The  council  under  Agrippinus  had 
affirmed  the  practice,  and  thousands  of  heretics 
since  had  embraced  the  saving  rite.  ^ 

The  question  came  up  in  the  shape  of  an  applica- 
tion from  two  Numidian  bishops  for  advice. 
There  was  no  doubt  about  the  African  usage; 
it  was  that  of  the  churches  of  Asia  Minor  also. 
Two  synods  at  Carthage  decided  to  adhere  to 
their  own  tradition,  and  a  letter  was  addressed  to 
Rome  where  Stephen  had  succeeded  Cornelius  in 
the  bishop's  chair.  His  action  was  unexpectedly 
domineering.  He  violently  denounced  all  who 
baptized  heretics  a  second  time,  declared  that  he 
would  hold  no  communion  with  the  African  bishops 

I  Ep.  Ixxiii,  12;  Hartel,  ii,  p.  787.  "  Ibid.,  3. 


At  the  Parting  of  the  Ways      419 

who  accepted  Cyprian's  views,  and  threatened  to 
inflict  the  same  penalty  on  the  bishops  in  the  East. 
At  a  third  council  held  at  Carthage  towards  the 
close  of  256  eighty-seven  bishops  were  present 
besides  a  large  number  of  presbyters,  deacons, 
and  laity.  They  naturally  protested  against  the 
assumption  of  Stephen, '  and  sent  a  deputation  of 
bishops  to  state  their  views  at  Rome.  Stephen 
haughtily  refused  to  receive  them,  and  issued 
orders  that  they  should  not  be  admitted  to  church- 
fellowship,  or  even  entertained  with  the  customary 
hospitality.^  Such  conduct  naturally  caused  an 
entire  rupture.  The  martyrdom  of  Stephen  in  257 
and  of  Cyprian  in  258,  removed  the  principal  com- 
batants from  the  scene.  Little  by  little  the  agita- 
tion subsided,  and  the  Roman  usage  gradually 
prevailed.  The  merit  of  breadth  has  been  claimed 
for  it,  but  at  the  cost  of  throwing  into  still  stronger 
relief  the  element  of  power  in  a  sacred  formula. 
It  was  an  English  bishop  in  the  last  century  who 
remarked:  "The  mystical  philosophy  of  secret 
agents  in  nature  was  Christianized.  The  general 
belief  in  magic  in  the  early  ages  of  the  Church  may 
sufficiently  account  for  the  ready  reception  of  such 
a  theory  of  sacramental  influence.  The  maxim 
of  Augustine,  accedit  verhiim  ad  elementum  et  fit 
sacramentum,  appears  to  be  in  fact  an  adaptation 

'  Augustine  cites  the  opening  words  of  Cyprian  in  their  A  eta, 
in  his  treatise  De  Baptismo  contra  Donatistas,  III,  4-6. 

^  Firmihan,  in  Ep.  Ixxv,  25 ;  Hartel,  ii,  p.  826.  Stephen  dubbed 
Cyprian  a  "false  Christ." 


420       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

of  the  popular  belief  in  the  power  of  incantations 
and  charms  to  the  subject  of  Religion."^ 

The  conception  of  the  episcopal  office  which 
emerges  from  these  troubled  years,  is  highly  sig- 
nificant. Irenaeus  and  Tertullian  had  presented  it 
as  the  guardian  of  the  truth  through  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  apostolic  tradition.  Cyprian  is  not 
affected  by  the  problems  which  had  generated  the 
great  Gnostic  movement.  He  is  primarily  an 
administrator,  and  is  concerned  with  questions  of 
discipline,  government,  and  authority.  In  an 
early  letter  he  lays  it  down  that  the  Lord  chose 
apostles,  "that  is,  bishops,"^  and  asserts  that 
"God  makes  bishops. "  In  each  congregation  the 
bishop  is  priest,  and  as  the  Aaronic  priesthood  was 
ordained  by  Christ,  ^  Cyprian  can  apply  the  declara- 
tions of  its  privileges  to  the  Christian  episcopate. 
One  of  his  favourite  texts  is  the  Deuteronomic 
warning,  "the  man  that  will  act  in  pride  so  as  not 
to  Hsten  to  the  priest  .  .  .  shall  die ";  the  rebel- 
lion of  Korah  is  the  type  of  all  resistance  to  the 
bishop.''  To  the  bishops  who  have  succeeded  by 
vicarious  ordination  to  the  apostles  Christ  still 
says  "he  that  heareth  you,  heareth  me."^  It 
naturally  follows  that  the  power  of  governing  is 
divine,  and  there  is  one  person  for  the  time  Priest 
in  the  Church  and  Judge  in  the  place  of  Christ.^ 

'  Hampden,  The  Scholastic  Theology  considered  in  its  Relation 
to  Christian  Theology,  the  Bampton  Lecture,  1832,  p.  315. 

^  Ep.  iii,  3;  Hartel,  ii,  p.  471.       ^  Ep.  Ixix,  8;  Hartel,  ii,  p.  757. 
4  Both  in  Ep.  iii,  I.  ^Ep.  Ixvi,  4;  Hartel,  ii,  p.  729- 

fi  "Vice  Christi,"  EpAix,  5;  Hartel,  ii,  p.  672. 


At  the  Parting  of  the  Ways      421 

But,  further,  each  local  Church  belonged  to  a 
vaster  body,  not  indeed  knit  into  a  corporate 
whole  by  external  institution,  but  wrought  into 
a  spiritual  unity  by  divine  purpose  and  gifts.  Of 
this  purpose  the  bishops  were  the  appointed  agents; 
of  these  gifts  they  were  the  accredited  bearers. 
What  individual  bishops  were  to  their  separate 
congregations,  the  totality  of  the  order  was  to  the 
Universal  Church.  Their  first  duty,  therefore,  on 
this  wider  field  was  the  maintenance  of  unity. 
This  had  been  laid  by  the  Lord  on  the  Apostles,  it 
had  been  transmitted  through  them  to  the  bishops 
their  successors. '  To  enforce  this  lesson  was  the 
aim  of  his  famous  address  "On  the  Unity  of  the 
Catholic  Church,"  perhaps  actually  delivered  to 
the  fathers  assembled  at  his  first  Council  in  251. 
Novatian  had  already  challenged  the  whole  Order 
by  foisting  himself  into  the  episcopate  at  Rome. 
"Let  no  one  deceive  the  brotherhood  with  a  lie," 
cries  the  orator;  "the  episcopate  is  one,  and  each 
one  holds  his  part  in  it  for  the  whole.  "^  The 
first  promise,  indeed,  was  given  to  Peter,  but  after 
the  resurrection  an  equal  power  was  bestowed  on 
all.^  With  lyric  intensity  Cyprian  celebrates  the 
consequent  unity  of  the  Church: 

'  Ep.  xlv,  3;  Hartel,  ii,  p.  602. 

'  De  Unitate,  v;  Hartel,  i,  p.  214. 

3  On  the  interpolations  in  this  famous  chapter  (iv)  see  Benson, 
Cyprian,  p.  200  ff.  The  relations  between  Cyprian  and  the 
Roman  see  have  been  recently  discussed  by  Koch,  "Cyprian 
und  der  Romische  Primat, "  in  Texte  und  Untersuch.,  1910, 
Heft  I. 


422       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

There  is  one  Church  which  spreads  itself  out  into  a 
multitude  (of  churches),  wider  and  wider  in  ever  in- 
creasing fruitfulness;  just  as  the  sun  has  many  rays 
but  only  one  light,  and  a  tree  many  branches  yet  only 
one  heart,  based  in  the  clinging  root;  and  while  many 
rills  flow  ofif  from  a  single  fountain-head,  although  a 
multiplicity  of  waters  is  seen  streaming  away  in 
diverse  directions  from  the  bounty  of  its  abundant 
overflow,  yet  unity  is  preserved  in  the  head-spring. 
Pluck  a  ray  away  from  the  sun's  body!  unity  admits 
no  division  of  Hght.  Break  a  bough  ofiE  a  tree!  once 
broken  it  will  bud  no  more.  Cut  a  rill  ofif  from  the 
spring!  the  rill  cut  off  dries  up.  So  too  the  Church 
flooded  with  the  light  of  the  Lord  flings  rays  over  the 
whole  world.  Yet  it  is  one  light  which  diffuses  itself 
everywhere;  the  unity  of  the  body  knows  no  partition. 
She  reaches  forth  her  boughs  over  the  universal  earth 
in  the  richness  of  her  fertility,  broadens  ever  more 
widely  her  bounteous  flowing  rivers,  and  still  there  is 
one  head,  one  source,  one  mother,  rich  in  ever  suc- 
ceeding births.  Of  her  we  are  born;  her  milk  our 
nurture,  her  breath  oxir  life.^ 

This  high-strung  plea  was  supported  by  Scrip- 
tural analogies,  which  illustrate  the  current 
methods  of  interpretation.  The  ark  of  Noah 
was  a  refuge  outside  which  none  could  escape. 
The  paschal  lamb  must  be  eaten  in  one  house,  =* 
the  flesh  of  Christ  could  only  be  eaten  in  the  One 
Church.  Even  the  harlot  Rahab,  whose  home 
was  to  be  spared  at  the  fall  of  Jericho,  ^  was  pressed 

'  De  Unitate,  v;  tr.  Benson,  Cyprian,  p.  182. 

"  Exod.  xii,  46.  ^  Josh,  ii,  19. 


At  the  Parting  of  the  Ways      423 

into  the  service  as  prefiguring  the  Church.  The 
seamless  robe  of  Jesus,  the  one  flock,  the  dove- 
hke  form  of  the  Spirit,  were  so  many  parables  of 
unity  and  concord.  Father,  Son,  and  Holy 
Spirit  were  one ;  who  could  believe  that  this  unity, 
springing  from  divine  strength  and  cohering  in 
heavenly  sacraments,  could  be  divided  by  conflict- 
ing wills!'  Life  and  salvation  lay  in  unity,  and 
its  visible  bond  was  seen  in  the  episcopate. 
Obedience  to  the  bishops  was  the  way  to  heaven.  ^ 
The  emphasis  with  which  this  view  was  reiter- 
ated, backed  by  Cyprian's  personal  force  and  ele- 
vated position,  secured  for  it  enormous  influence. 
It  harmonized  with  the  genius  of  Roman  adminis- 
tration; it  provided  a  remedy  for  a  Church  dis- 
tracted by  heresy  and  threatened  with  schism.  It 
enabled  Cyprian  to  conquer  the  opposition  of  his 
five  hostile  presbyters  and  their  adherents,  and 
to  control  the  claims  of  the  confessors.  It  ex- 
pressed with  the  utmost  force  the  result  of  a  long 
development  since  the  days  of  Ignatius,  and  it 
finally  invested  the  bishop  with  the  character  and 
functions  of  priesthood.  But  it  had  its  own 
dangers.  The  conception  of  Church  unity  had 
hardly  been  elaborated  before  it  was  in  peril  of 
being  wrecked  on  the  diversity  of  usage  revealed 
in  the  controversy  on  the  rebaptism  of  heretics. 
When  bishops  disagreed  and  ancient  customs 
differed,  how  should  they  be  reduced  to  harmony  ? 

'  De  Unitate,  vi-ix. 

'  Ep.  iv,  4,  supported  again  by  Detit.  xvii,  12-13. 


424       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

What  would  have  happened  had  not  Stephen  and 
Cyprian  both  suffered  martyrdom  in  the  height  of 
a  dispute? 

The  salvation  of  the  believer  was  thus  placed 
under  the  immediate  control  of  the  bishop.  He 
could  not  indeed  guarantee  it.  But  he  could  frus- 
trate it.  The  reconciliation  of  sinners  lay  in  his 
hands.  To  readmit  the  offender  was  not  to  antici- 
pate the  divine  judgment  at  the  last  Day;  it  did 
reinstate  him  in  the  possibility  of  future  bliss. 
The  certainty  of  damnation  was  lifted  off  him; 
the  way  was  opened  for  the  exercise  of  divine 
mercy.  But  exclusion  from  the  Church  meant 
unquestionable  doom.  The  vast  far-reaching 
prospects  opened  by  Origen  were  closed  in  hope- 
lessness. A  terrible  list  of  phrases  describing  the 
penal  torments  awaiting  the  unconverted  and  the 
impenitent  can  be  readily  compiled  from  Cyprian's 
writings.^  No  journey  of  the  soul  stretched 
through  the  ages  to  ultimate  reunion  with  its 
Maker;  the  whole  everlasting  future  was  deter- 
mined by  the  guilty  present ;  the  fate  of  the  wicked 
was  settled  at  the  moment  of  departure  from  this 
world;  there  was  no  opportunity  for  subsequent 
repentance;  death  ended  all  alternatives;  the  lot 
of  the  sinner  whom  the  bishop  had  refused  to  re- 
ceive back  to  communion  was  irreversible. 

'See  Atzberger,  Geschichte  der  Christlichen  Eschatologie  (1896), 
P-  539;  "poena  perpetua,"  "tormenta  eterna, "  "gehennas  ignes, " 
"flammas,"  "ardores,"  "ardens  semper  gehenna,"  etc.,  make  up 
the  dismal  prospect. 


At  the  Parting  of  the  Ways      425 

The  position  thus  secured  by  the  bishop  is 
clearly  illustrated  in  the  "Didascalia  (Teaching) 
of  the  Apostles,"  recently  recovered  in  a  Syriac 
version  from  the  lost  Greek  original.  It  is  as- 
signed with  confidence  to  the  third  century,  but 
its  place  within  that  period  is  uncertain.  It 
reflects  the  general  movement  to  which  Cyprian 
gave  the  most  pointed  expression,  though  its 
details  do  not  show  any  direct  influence  from  his 
phraseology. '  With  repeated  emphasis  the  bishop 
is  bidden  to  remember  that  he  is  appointed  in  the 
semblance  of  God  Almighty.  "Thus  sit  in  the 
Church  and  teach  as  one  that  hath  power  to  judge 
those  that  sin  in  the  place  of  Almighty  God.  "^ 
He  is  to  be  honoured  and  feared  as  a  Father  and 
Lord  and  God  next  to  Almighty  God.  ^  His  flock 
is  to  regard  him  as  the  mouth  of  God :  the  king  may 
wear  a  crown,  but  he  reigns  only  over  the  body  and 
can  bind  and  loose  only  in  this  world.  ' '  The  bishop 
reigns  over  both  soul  and  body,  that  he  may  loose  on 
the  earth  and  bind  in  heaven  by  heavenly  power. "  ^ 
To  raise  an  evil  report  against  him,  therefore,  either 
by  word  or  deed,  is  to  sin  against  God  Almighty.  ^ 
The  frequent  injunctions  to  pay  the  bishop  due 
respect  imply  that  his  rule  was  not  always  accept- 
able, and  might  provoke  resistance : 

'  Cp.  the  translation  by  Mrs.  Gibson,  Horce  Semiticcc,  II  (1903) ; 
and  Achelis  and  Fleming,  "  Die  altestcn  Quellen  des  Orientalisehcn 
Kirchenrechts, "  Texte  und  Untersuch.  (1904),  Heft  2. 

'  Didasc.  (Gibson),  v,  p.  28,  cp.  48. 

3  Achelis  and  Fleming,  Texte  und  Untersuch.,  p.  31,  i,  12. 

■<  Didasc.  (Gibson),  ix,  p.  51.  s  Ibid.,  p.  50. 


426  Phases  of  Early  Christianity- 
Honour  ye  the  Bishops  who  are  able  to  loose  you 
from  sins,  those  who  have  begotten  you  anew  by 
means  of  water,  those  who  have  filled  you  with  the 
Holy  Ghost,  those  who  have  nourished  you  with  the 
Word  as  with  milk,  those  who  have  estabhshed  you 
with  the  doctrine  of  life,  those  who  have  confirmed 
you  by  admonition,  and  made  you  partakers  in  the 
holy  Eucharist  of  God,  and  made  you  sharers  and 
heirs  of  God's  promise. 

Grave  were  the  responsibilities  that  thus  lay 
upon  them.  Like  the  ancient  Servant  of  the 
Lord,  like  Christ  himself,  they  bore  the  sins  of  all 
men";  they  must,  therefore,  avoid  sin  themselves. 
Their  temptations  were  many;  even  warnings 
against  drunkenness  were  needful.^  Their  con- 
trol of  the  whole  penitential  system  required  that 
they  should  be  absolutely  impartial,  not  harsh  or 
tyrannical  on  the  one  hand,  nor  open  to  gifts  from 
the  wicked  on  the  other.  ^  Those  who  sin  must  be 
judged  with  pity  and  mercy.  ^  Permanent  exclu- 
sion from  the  Church  "kills  evilly  and  bitterly  for 
eternity, "  and  an  inconsiderate  or  unjust  sentence 
would  consign  the  judge  as  well  as  the  guilty  per- 
son to  "cruel  fire  for  ever. "^  But  what  if  the 
bishop  himself  were  the  offender?  "Avoid  sin," 
runs  the  exhortation,  "lest  any  man  perish  because 
of  thee."^  The  ministry  of  an  unfaithful  repre- 
sentative of  God  imperilled  others  as  well  as  him- 

'  Didasc.  (Gibson),  viii,  p.  44.  ="  Ibid.,  viii,  p.  43. 

3  Ibid.,  xii,  p.  65;  V,  p.  27;  xviii,  p.  82.         "  Ibid.,  vi,  p.  32. 
5  Ibid.,  vi,  p.  36.  ^  Ibid.,  v,  p.  34. 


At  the  Parting  of  the  Ways      427 

self.  To  Cyprian  this  was  as  obvious  as  that  the 
baptism  by  heretics  could  not  confer  the  new  birth. 
Callixtus,  indeed,  had  laid  it  down  at  Rome  that 
a  bishop's  sin  "even  unto  death"  was  no  ground 
for  his  deposition."  But  this  was  by  no  means 
accepted  even  in  his  own  church.  A  significant 
case  arose  in  Spain.  ^  The  bishops  of  Leon  and 
Merida,  Basilides  and  Martial,  had  obtained  cer- 
tificates in  the  Dccian  persecution  exempting 
them  from  sacrifice:  Basilides  afterwards  repented 
and  resigned  his  charge.  Martial  was  guilty  also 
of  association  with  an  idolatrous  burial  club.^ 
With  the  approval  of  neighbouring  bishops  their 
churches  appointed  others  in  their  place.  The 
guilty  ministers,  however,  subsequently  went  to 
Rome,  and  induced  Bishop  Stephen  to  acknow- 
ledge them  as  still  the  lawful  occupants  of  their  old 
chairs.  Upon  this  the  Spanish  churches  appealed 
to  Cyprian.  The  case  was  considered  at  his  fourth 
Council,  in  the  autumn  of  254.  Its  decision  under 
his  guidance  was  unanimous.  Not  human  counsel 
so  much  as  divine  commands  determined  the  issue : 
no  one  with  spot  or  blemish  might  approach  to 
offer  gifts  to  God.''  The  decision  of  Stephen  was 
unhesitatingly  reversed;  his  dignity  was  saved 
by  the  suggestion  that  he  could  not  have  been  pro- 
perly informed  about  the  facts;  his  predecessor 
Cornelius,  honoured  by  the  Lord's  condescension 
with  martyrdom,  together  with  absolutely  all  the 

'  Hippolyt.,  Refiilatio,  IX,  xii.  '  Cypr.,  Ep.  Ixvii. 

3  Cypr.,  Ep.  Ixvii,  6;  Hartel,  ii,  p.  740.         <  Levii.  xxi,  17. 


428       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

bishops  throughout  the  whole  world,  had  agreed 
that  such  men  might  be  admitted  to  penitence  but 
must  be  debarred  from  the  honour  of  the  priest- 
hood. '  The  misconduct  of  an  unworthy  minister 
thus  vitiated  all  his  functions;  it  even  involved  the 
people  who  remained  in  communion  with  him  in 
the  contagion  of  guilt;  the  children  of  Israel  were 
commanded  to  separate  themselves  from  Korah 
and  his  associates;  and  in  like  manner  the  Lord's 
people  must  separate  themselves  from  a  sinful 
bishop.  ^  Between  sacramental  efficiency  and  per- 
sonal character  Cyprian  has  no  hesitation  which 
to  choose.  The  Church  cannot  see  the  salvation 
of  its  members  endangered  by  the  misconduct  of  a 
priest  and  judge  set  over  them  in  the  place  of  God. 

The  foundations  of  the  CathoHc  Church  were 
thus  securely  laid  in  sacrament  and  priesthood. 
Not  yet,  indeed,  had  it  conquered  the  forces  with 
which  it  had  waged  its  long  struggle.  But  the 
promise  of  victory  is  already  in  its  grasp;  its  ful- 
filment will  not  be  long  delayed.  In  the  two  cen- 
turies which  had  elapsed  since  Christianity  was 
carried  beyond  the  limits  of  Palestine  by  its  early 
missionaries,  it  had  encountered  many  adversaries 
and  assumed  many  different  forms.  Like  other 
contemporary  religions  it  proclaimed  a  doctrine 
of  Salvation,  and  it  possessed  the  immense  ad- 
vantage of  being  able  also  to  proclaim  a  Saviour 

'  Ep.  Ixvii,  6;  Hartel,  ii,  p.  741. 
'  Ep.,  Ixvii,  3;  Hartel,  ii,  p.  737. 


At  the  Parting  of  the  Ways      429 

who  had  lived  on  earth,  who  had  been  born,  had 
taught  and  laboured  among  men,  had  died  and 
passed  into  the  heavenly  world.  None  of  its 
rivals,  though  they  might  mourn  the  death  and 
celebrate  the  resurrection  of  their  god,  could  frame 
a  creed  which  contained  such  words  as  "crucified 
under  Pontius  Pilate."  The  followers  of  Jesus 
were  not  ashamed  to  parade  the  fact  that  their 
Teacher  had  been  executed  as  a  rebel  against 
Rome.  ■  In  the  forefront  of  their  message  they 
placed  the  greatest  obstacle  to  belief;  and  uncon- 
scious of  the  difficulty  faith  rose  supreme  above  it. 
But  in  doing  so  it  planted  itself  securely  on  historic 
fact.  With  the  Gospels  in  their  hands  the  breth- 
ren within  the  Church  could  point  to  the  actual 
source  of  their  new  life.  There  were  the  words  in 
which  he  summoned  them  to  mutual  love  and  help- 
fulness ;  there  was  the  record  of  his  own  march  along 
the  via  dolorosa  that  led  to  the  cross ;  there  was  the 
pathway  opened  into  the  new  fellowship  with  the 
Father  in  heaven.  The  Church  indeed  existed  be- 
fore a  line  of  the  Gospels  was  written.  But  it  owed 
to  them  the  foundations  of  its  teaching  and  the  guar- 
antee of  its  claims.  Before  the  figure  of  the  Cruci- 
fied, Isis  and  Mithras,  Attis  and  Adonis,  slowly  paled. 
The  haze  of  myth  enveloping  them  faded,  and  when 
it  vanished  nothing  was  left  but  empty  air. 

But  this  historic  personality  was  capable  of 
very  various  interpretations.  Primitive  Chris- 
tianity, as  displayed  in  the  New  Testament,  ex- 
hibits no  dogmatic  uniformity.     The  reporter  of 


430       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

Peter  in  the  Book  of  Acts  differs  widely  from  the 
Apostle  Paul.  The  Christ  of  John  discoursing  at 
the  last  supper  concerning  the  mystic  fellowship 
of  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  disciples,  is  pre- 
sented on  another  plane  than  the  Christ  of  Mat- 
thew seated  on  the  mount  and  issuing  the  charter 
of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  The  heirs  of  the  Jeru- 
salem community  are  driven  into  small  and  ob- 
scure groups  entangled  in  the  meshes  of  the  ancient 
Law;  the  future  lies  with  the  great  adventure 
which  declares  its  function  ended  and  its  obHga- 
tions  annulled.  But  in  shaking  themselves  free 
from  Judaism  the  preachers  of  the  Gospel  carried 
with  them  two  of  its  most  important  products. 
The  Law,  the  Prophets,  and  the  Psalms,'  repre- 
senting the  three  divisions  of  the  Hebrew  Scrip- 
tures, became  the  authority  for  their  doctrine  and 
the  foundation  of  their  worship.  They  redeemed 
Christianity  from  the  charge  of  iUicit  novelty,  and 
brought  it  into  a  scheme  of  time  and  purpose 
embracing  the  whole  history  of  the  world.  Philo- 
sophy might  reach  the  conception  of  the  unity 
of  man;  the  Church,  in  possession  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, actually  showed  his  origin  fresh  from  his 
Maker's  hand.  And  as  it  could  tell  the  secret  of 
his  creation,  so  it  could  also  unfold  the  mystery 
of  his  destiny.  Christianity  passed  into  the  Em- 
pire charged  with  the  message  of  impending  doom. 
The  coming  judgment,  the  disappearance  of  the 
existing  scene,   the  resurrectioii  to  the  joys  of 

'  Luke  xxiv,  44. 


At  the  Parting  of  the  Ways      431 

heaven  or  the  pains  of  hell,  the  reign  of  the  saints 
and  the  victory  over  the  devil,  which  formed  the 
immediate  outlook  of  the  first  generations  of 
believers,  were  all  derived  from  the  religion  into 
which  Jesus  was  born. 

On  the  other  hand  Christianity  was  naturally 
obUged  to  adapt  itself  to  the  Hellenic  culture  into 
which  it  was  transplanted.  There  it  was  con- 
fronted with  new  conceptions  of  the  Deity,  new 
modes  of  interpreting  his  action  in  the  spheres  of 
nature  and  of  man.  When  one  of  the  leading  ideas 
of  current  philosophy  was  appHed  to  the  person  of 
Jesus  in  his  character  of  "the  Christ,  the  Son  of 
God,"  the  expectations  hitherto  connected  with 
the  notion  of  the  Messiah  were  profoundly  modi- 
fied. The  presuppositions  of  the  higher  Greek 
theology  combined  with  the  Jewish  view  of  ' '  One 
God,  the  Father,  and  one  Lord,  Jesus  Christ"  to 
produce  a  fresh  construction  of  the  Godhead,  which 
culminated  in  the  doctrine  of  the  three  Persons 
in  one  Substance.  But  this  found  no  place  in  the 
early  Rule  of  Faith.  Different  types  of  Monar- 
chian  teaching  held  their  ground  side  by  side,  and 
the  succession  indicated  by  the  three  names, 
Ebion,  Artemas,  and  Paul, '  proved  that  for  two 

'  Ebion,  supposed  to  have  been  the  founder  of  the  "  Ebionites, " 
see  p.  74.  Artemas,  the  successor  of  Theodotus  at  Rome,  p.  I33f 
Paul  (of  Samosata)  the  most  famous  heretic  of  the  tliird  century, 
minister  of  Queen  Zcnobia  of  Palmyra,  and  bishop  of  Antioch; 
deposed  after  Zenobia's  defeat  by  Aurelian,  272.  These  were 
designated  the  Fathers  of  the  Arians;  Harnack,  History  of  Dogma, 
Vol.  iv  (Engl,  transl.),  p.  212. 


432       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

hundred  years  humanitarian  views  of  the  nature  of 
Jesus  had  claimed  the  shelter  of  the  Christian 
name.  With  an  opposite  tendency  the  Gnostic 
sects  removed  him  altogether  from  the  actual 
scene,  and  ascribed  to  him  only  a  phantom  body 
which  suffering  and  death  could  never  touch. 
The  question  of  the  Saviour's  person,  however,  was 
less  pressing  than  that  of  the  nature  and  process 
of  salvation;  what  it  effected  for  the  believer,  and 
by  what  means.  The  two  great  sacraments, 
Baptism  and  the  Eucharist,  were  soon  set  in  the 
light  of  the  mystery-cults  of  Greece,  Egypt,  and 
the  East,  and  the  sanctity  of  an  exclusive  priest- 
hood gradually  enveloped  them.  Dogmatic  uni- 
formity, however,  there  was  none.  The  Canon  of 
the  New  Testament  was  still  unfixed.  Origen  was 
not  afraid  to  point  out  grave  discrepancies  between 
the  Fourth  Gospel  and  its  predecessors.  As  a 
great  teacher  he  could  still  claim  the  aid  of  philo- 
sophy. With  prophetic  confidence  in  the  victory 
of  good  he  looked  forward  to  the  ultimate  conver- 
sion of  the  powers  of  evil  into  servants  of  God. 
Ritual  and  custom  vary  from  land  to  land.  The 
position  of  sinners  who  have  been  unfaithful  to 
their  baptismal  vow  becomes  perilous.  Discipline 
is  stringent  in  one  church,  and  lax  in  another. 
The  privileges  claimed  by  martyrs  and  the  rights 
acquired  by  church-officers  are  brought  at  last 
into  open  conflict;  and  the  salvation  of  the  sinner 
is  hedged  round  with  the  practice  of  penitence. 
But  the  relation  of  the  sacraments  to  the  faith  and 


At  the  Parting  of  the  Ways      433 

character  of  the  priest  is  still  undetermined;  and 
important  moral  issues  as  well  as  significant  meta- 
physical problems  still  await  their  settlement. 

At  the  opening  of  the  third  century  Christianity 
stands  at  the  parting  of  the  ways.  Not  yet  is  it 
converted  into  a  closely  knit  dogmatic  system  or  a 
rigid  scheme  of  ecclesiastical  rule.  It  has  pro- 
duced a  wide  variety  of  teaching  and  usage,  will 
it  insist  on  reducing  them  to  uniformity,  or  will  it 
be  able  to  conciliate  freedom  and  authority,  and 
recognize  beneath  external  diversity  the  presence 
of  a  common  Spirit  through  which  "God  fulfils 
himself  in  many  ways  ? ' '  The  answer  was  wrought 
out  in  succeeding  centuries  by  the  Catholic  Church, 
and  the  genius  of  Augustine  swayed  its  thought 
and  inspired  its  devotion,  while  it  converted  to  its 
own  use  the  organization  of  the  Empire  which  had 
been  first  its  persecutor  and  then  its  benefactor. 
Marvellous  indeed  is  the  story  of  Latin  Christ- 
ianity. Its  thinkers  essay  the  stupendous  task 
of  organizing  all  human  knowledge,  as  its  rulers 
attempt  to  administer  human  life.  It  builds  the 
cathedrals,  it  creates  liturgies  of  penitence,  it 
composes  hymns  of  praise.  It  cultivates  waste 
places,  and  plants  centres  of  learning  and  piety 
from  land  to  land.  It  promotes  the  ideals  of 
chivalry,  and  possesses  a  unique  power  of  making 
saints.  It  calls  art  to  its  aid,  and  Giotto  awakes 
the  imagination  and  guides  the  hand  of  Italy  to 
become  the  teacher  of  the  North.  It  bids  Dante 
make  the  great  ascent  from  hell  to  heaven,  and 
28 


434       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

picture  in  immortal  verse  the  meaning  of  sin  and 
recovery  and  holiness.  The  new  learning  arises 
and  Erasmus  stands  on  one  side  and  Luther  and 
Calvin  on  the  other;  but  Rome  does  not  fall  by 
her  corruption  or  her  losses ;  with  dauntless  vigour 
she  sends  out  her  missionaries  to  the  East  and  to 
the  West,  and  raises  the  cross  in  continent  and 
island  round  the  globe.  She  possesses  the  co- 
hesion of  a  mighty  fabric  of  thought  and  discipline, 
within  whose  bounds  intellect  and  impulse  may 
yet  find  wide  ranges  of  expression  and  activity. 
Her  great  tradition  of  doctrine  and  worship  en- 
shrines the  experience  of  innumerable  minds  which 
have  found  within  its  shelter  strength  and  peace. 
If  she  has  kindled  the  hatred  of  her  opponents  by 
her  pretensions  and  her  crimes,  she  has  also  gen- 
erated the  undying  love  of  the  believers  who  have 
accepted  her  guidance  and  found  in  her  their 
salvation. 

The  Reformation  was  rather  a  moral  challenge 
than  an  intellectual  revolt.  Its  causes,  as  in  all 
movements  that  shake  existing  order,  were  com- 
plex, religious,  political,  economic.  It  was  led  by 
great  personalities,  but  it  lacked  great  thinkers. 
Their  outlook  was  inevitably  bounded  by  their 
time ;  they  did  not  realize  the  fundamental  problems 
in  the  philosophy  of  religion,  such  as  the  nature 
and  scope  and  method  of  revelation,  the  character 
and  limits  of  authority,  the  necessity  of  co-ordin- 
ating belief  with  widening  knowledge  and  clearer 
moral  insight.     In  spite  of  occasional  protest  the 


At  the  Parting  of  the  Ways      435 

dogma  of  the  inerrancy  of  the  Scriptures  brooded 
for  three  centuries  over  popular  Protestantism, 
and  while  freedom  of  enquiry  was  repressed  sects 
multiplied,  and  different  types  of  polity  arose  to 
give  shape  to  varying  conceptions  of  the  Church. 
The  last  century,  as  we  all  know,  has  witnessed 
a  mighty  change.  Fresh  influences  have  modi- 
fied the  traditional  theology.  The  whole  inner 
history  of  man,  like  the  story  of  his  physical 
frame,  has  been  re- written.  Upon  the  human 
nature  once  deemed  hopelessly  corrupt  arose  a 
philosophy  which  discovered  the  foundations  of 
rehgion  in  the  judgments  of  reason,  the  witness  of 
the  conscience,  the  sentiments  of  the  soul.  While 
science  indefinitely  enlarged  the  range  of  the 
universe  in  space  and  time  beyond  the  biblical 
Hmits,  the  appHcation  of  the  principles  of  morality 
to  the  Divine  government  undid  the  cruder  forms 
of  the  doctrine  of  the  Atonement,  and  dispersed 
the  dreadful  shadow  of  eternal  aUenation  from 
the  love  of  God.  The  great  religions  of  the  East 
rose  slowly  into  view,  presenting  worships  of 
immemorial  antiquity,  resting  on  mighty  aggre- 
gates of  sacred  books,  and  exhibiting  a  whole 
series  of  new  answers  to  the  perpetual  questions 
that  emerge  out  of  the  relations  of  God,  the  world, 
and  man.  Here  were  subtle  philosophies,  mis- 
sionary enthusiasms,  ethical  teachings,  types  of 
character  and  devotion,  that  have  ruled  empires 
for  whole  millenniums,  sometimes  bearing  sur- 
prising resemblances  to  the  varied  products  of 


43^       Phases  of  Early  Christianity 

Christianity.  The  doctrine  of  exclusive  salvation 
could  be  maintained  no  more.  In  the  immense 
process  of  human  development  religion  takes  its 
place  all  the  worid  over  as  a  guiding  power.  Its 
forms  cannot  of  course  be  all  of  equal  value,  but 
in  their  totality  they  constitute  the  witness  of 
man  to  his  need  of  God,  and  the  fellowship  of  God 
in  the  ascent  of  man. 

Over  this  broad  historic  field  rises,  purified  and 
enlarged,  the  noble  conception  of  Augustine,  the 
eruditio  or  education  of  the  race.  In  this,  among 
the  Western  nations,  Christianity,  by  its  unrivalled 
capacity  for  absorbing  fresh  impulses  and  thus 
renewing  its  inner  life,  has  played  the  leading  part. 
The  historical  method,  which  has  been  applied  by 
a  succession  of  laborious  scholars  ever  since  the 
revival  of  learning  to  the  great  cultures  of  classical 
antiquity,  could  not  be  withheld  from  the  liter- 
ature and  institutions  of  Israel.  It  advanced  in 
due  course  to  the  study  of  the  life  and  work  of 
Christ.  It  has  sought  to  reconstruct  the  religious 
and  social  order  in  the  midst  of  which  he  taught, 
and  determine  his  relation  to  the  beliefs  and  ex- 
pectations of  his  people.  It  has  attempted  to 
trace  the  origins  of  the  Gospels,  and  account  for 
the  different  types  of  experience  which  the  docu- 
ments of  the  early  Church  exhibit.  Such  investi- 
gations need  the  associated  endeavours  of  many 
minds.  They  are  rightly  pursued  from  various 
points  of  view,  and  their  issues  must  be  variously 
appraised.     The    one    condition    is    that    their 


At  the  Parting  of  the  Ways      437 

results  shall  not  be  forced  into  unreal  conformity 
with  the  dogmas  of  the  past.  They  are  already 
profoundly  transforming  ancient  modes  of  thought. 
But  they  are  also  visibly  setting  free  for  fresh 
triumphs  those  mighty  energies  of  faith  and  hope 
and  love  which  constitute  God's  great  gift  to  the 
world,  "the  Spirit  of  life  in  Jesus  Christ. " 


INDEX 


Abercius,  epitaph  of,  266  f. 
Acts  XX.,  vv.  17,  28 — ,  174 
Acts  of  John,  the,  325 
Adoptianist  Christology,   130 
.^ons,  in  Valentinian  teaching, 

318 

Agape,  the,  260  ff. 

Agrippinus,  bishop  of  Carthage, 
108 

Albigenses,  the,  416 

Alexander,  bishop  of  Jerusa- 
lem, 361,  364,  366,  369 

Alexandria,     Christianity     in, 

3.  330,  359 
Alogi,  the,  in  the  East,  134 
Altar,  the  heavenly,  145;  one, 
like    the   bishop    (Ignatius), 
276;  widows  as  God's  altar, 
282 
Ambrosius,  convert  of  Origen, 

364  f.,  368 
Ammonius  Salckas,  362 
Angelic  Powers,  the,  129 
Antioch,  2,  77 
Antiochus  Epiphanes,  13 
Antitheses,  the,  of  Marcion,  81 
Apollinaris,    bishop    of    Hier- 

apolis,  133 
Apollonius,  on  Christ's  teach- 
ing, 121 
Apollos,  at    Alexandria    (Cod. 

D),3 

Apologists,  the,  their  aims, 
;i5;  their  presentation  of 
C'lristianity,  89;  their  writ- 
i:v;s,  131  ff. 

Ajoostles,  in  the  early  Church, 
150  fT.,  in  the  Teaching  of 
the  Twelve  Apostles,  153 


Apuleius,  on  the  mysteries  of 
Isis,  222 

AristideSjOn  the  value  of  Christ- 
ians' intercession,  75;  his 
Apology,  132;  on  the  be- 
haviour of  Christians,  397 

Arrius  Antoninus,  46 

Artemas  (Artemon),  disciple 
of  Thcodotus,  74,  135,  431 

Asceticism,  demand  for,  41  ff. 

Asklepios,  as  Saviour,  12,  20; 
his  miracles,  74 

Athenagoras,  on  the  Logos  in 
Christ,  92  f . ;  his  plea  for  the 
Christians,  133 

Augustine,  84,  433,  436 

Augustus,  as  "vSon  of  God," 
and  "Divine  Saviour,"  13  f. 

B 

Babylas,  bishop  of  Antioch,  369 
Baptism,  the  seal  of,  39;  im- 
parts a  seed  of  immortality, 
58  f.,  238;  formula  in  Jus- 
tin's time,  82;  ethnic  ana- 
logies, 229  ff.;  primitive 
Christian,  232;  according  to 
St.  Paul,  234  ff.;  in  the 
Teaching  of  the  Twelve  A  pas- 
ties, 238;  on  behalf  of  the 
dead,  239;  according  to 
Hermas,  239;  Justin,  240; 
Canons  of  Hippolytus,  241 
ff.;  its  designations,  246; 
explanations  of  use  of  water, 
247;  its  efficacy,  250  f. ; 
according  to  Clement  of 
Alexandria,  337;  contro- 
versy on  rebaptism  of  here- 
tics, 418;  analogy  with  mys- 
tery cults,  432 


439 


440 


Index 


Barnabas,  Epistle  of,  5 ;  on  the 
"Way  of  Light,"  39;  on 
baptism,  247,  251 

Basilides,  bishop  of  Leon,  427 

BasiUdes,  a  Gnostic  teacher, 
310,312,389 

Behar,  and  seven  spirits  of 
deceit,  18 

Birth,  the  new,  in  the  Isiac 
mysteries,  224,  231;  Zoroas- 
trian,  229;  in  the  Tauro- 
boUum,  230;  in  the  Hermetic 
tracts  and  the  Mithras- 
liturgy,  231;  in  Christianity, 
119,  237,  245  f. 

Bishops,  167  flf. ;  relation  to 
presbyters,  171  ff. ;  in  the 
Ignatian  letters,  176  fif. ; 
extension  of  their  authority, 
187  fT. ;  representatives  of 
ritual  and  doctrinal  tradi- 
tion, 191  flf.;  the  bond  of 
Church  unity,  197;  in  the 
Canons  of  Hippolytus,  206 
f.;  in  the  view  of  Cyprian, 
420  flf.;  in  the  Syriac  Didas- 
calia,  425;  treatment  when 
unfaithful,  426  flf. 

Blandina,  martyred  at  Lyons,  46 

Buddha,  the  great  physician, 
20;  Buddhist  Docetism,  78 


Ccecilian,  presbyter  at  Car- 
thage, 405  f. 

Callistus,  bishop  of  Rome,  136, 
400 

CaracaUa,  the  emperor,  363 

Carpocrates,  a  Gnostic  teacher, 
310 

Carthage,  the  Church  in,  106  f ., 

359,  403  ff-      ,     . 
Celsus,   on  Asklepios,   21;   on 

Christianity,  330;  the  True 

Word,  363,  369,  371,  401 
Cerinthus,    at    Ephesus,    310; 

on  Jesus  and  the  Christ,  325 
Charisma  veritatis,  in  Irenseus, 

197 


Charismatic  Ministry,  the,  165 
Christ,  see  Jesus  Christ 
Christianity,  as  a  new  law,  38; 
as    "our    philosophy,"    41; 
according  to  the  Apologists, 
89,  121  fif.;  significance  of  its 
historic  character,  428;  debt 
to  Judaism,  430;  adaptation 
to     Hellenic     culture,     431; 
in  the  Latin  Church,  433 
Christians,  described  by  Pliny, 
I ;   dififusion   in   the   Roman 
Empire,  2  flf.,  37,  75,  92,  335, 
372;  their  conduct,  38,  397; 
constancy  in  face  of  death, 
40,  397;  as  priests,  164 
Christology,  Adoptianist,  130; 
Pneumatic,  131.     See  Jesus 
Christ. 
Church,  the,  as  the  sphere  of 
salvation,  138  flf.;   its  narne, 
138;  its   members,    139;  in- 
dependence of  local  churches, 
141;  spiritual  union,  143;  its 
ideal  counterpart  above,  146; 
created      before     sun     and 
moon,    147;    identified   with 
the    Son    of    God,     148;    a 
second    Eve,    149;   apostles, 
prophets,  and  teachers,   150 
ff . ;  organization  for  practical 
needs,     160,     166;    imagery 
of  sacrifice,  163;  officers  for 
"rule"     or     administration, 
165     flf.;     development     of 
organization,   182   fl[.;  meet 
ings  in  private  houses,  183 
grounds  of  leadership,   184 
unity  and  catholicity,    185 
growth  of  Episcopal  author- 
ity, 186  flf.;  its  claims  against 
Gnosticism,     191;    diffusion 
and    unity,     192;    possesses 
the  Scriptures,   192  flf.;  and 
the  apostolic  tradition,   195 
ff . ;  failure  to  realize  its  ideal, 
199;    Montanism    and    the 
"New   Prophecy,"   200   flf.; 
officers     according     to     the 
Canons  of  Hippolytus,  206  fif. ; 


Index 


441 


Church —  Continued 

in  view  of  Clement  of  Alex- 
andria,  148,  355  f.;  and  of 
Origen,  372,  376;  its  cormp- 
tions,   398;   Cyprian  on  its 
Unity,  421 
Cleanthes,  on  the  Logos,  86 
Clement    of     Alexandria,     on 
martyrdom,  46;  on  becoming 
iJieos,    57;    on    the    Church, 
148,  335;  calls  a  bishop  "the 
presbyter,"     175;     on     the 
Mysteries,  228;  on  baptism, 
251 ;  head  of  the  catechetical 
school,    332;    his    writings, 
333,  initiated  at  Eleusis,  333; 
his    comments    on    society, 
334;  definition  of  salvation, 
336;  baptism   and  the   Eu- 
charist,    337;     eschatology, 
339;    significance  of    philo- 
sophy,   341    S.;    the  divine 
transcendence,    345   f.;    the 
goodness    of    God,    347    f.; 
doctrine  of  Christ,  349  ff.; 
the  true  Gnostic,  353 
Clement  of  Rome,  5;  on  faith 
and  works,  38;  on  the  blood 
of  Christ,    115;  on   Church 
officers,  172;  prayer  in  wor- 
ship,   257;    his    doctrine    of 
God,  305 
Cotnniunicalio  idiomatum,  106 
Confession   of    sin,    258,    395, 

399      .  .      .      .      ^ 

Consecuho  etermtatis,  m  Ter- 
tuUian,  248 

Corinth,  the  Church  in,  2,  5; 
revolt  against  presbyters, 
172;  Hegesippus  at,  188; 
Dionysius bishop,  1 88; Lord's 
Supper  at,  260  f.;  sinner 
devoted  to  Satan,  394 

Cornelius,  bishop  of  Rome, 
414 

Cornutus,  on  Hermes  and  the 
Logos,  86;  studied  by  Origen, 

375 
Cumont,  on  Mithraism,  227 
Cynics,  the,  41 


Cyprian,  on  the  Eucharist, 
280,  384;  at  Carthage,  359, 
403  fl.;  to  Donatus,  405, 
407;  on  the  "Lapsed,"  407; 
withdraws  from  the  city,  410; 
on  the  plague,  417;  on  re- 
baptism  of  heretics,  418;  on 
bishops,  420;  on  the  Unity 
of  the  Church,  421;  on 
episcopal  offenders,  427 


D 


Deacons,  167,  171  f.;  in  the 
Canons  of  Hippolytus,  207  f . 

Dead,  the  gospel  preached  to 
the,  36,  96,  239,  339 

Decius,  persecution  under,  369, 
410 

Demetrius,  bishop  of  Alexan- 
dria, 363  f.,  366  f. 

Demetrius  PoliorkStcs,  12 

Demons,  in  Jewish  speculation, 
17;  widespread  belief  in,  22 
ff.;  in  Plutarch,  23  (cp.  294); 
Porphyry,  24 

Descent  into  Hades,  of  Christ, 
96,  339;  of  apostles  and 
teachers,  239,  339 

Devil,  the,  26,  106,  120,  123  ff., 
385,  393-     See  Satan 

Didascalia,  the,  425 

Diognetus, letter  to,  40,  75, 117, 

132 
Dionysius  of  Alexandria,  369, 

410 
Dionysius  of  Corinth,  his  let- 
ters, 188 
Dionysos  and  omophagy,  273 
Disease  and  sin,  19 
Dispositio  salutis,  196 
Docetism,  78,  82,  325 
Doxmtinr)., y,  a.%domimts  ct  deus, 

65 ;  story  of  the  grandsons  of 

Jude,  70 
Domitilla,     wife     of     Flavins 

Clemens,  3 
Donatists,  the,  415 
Donatus,     Cyprian     to,     405, 

407 


442 


Index 


E 


Easter  controversy,  the,  189 
Ebion  and  Ebionites,  72,  134, 

431 

Ecclesia,  in  classical  and  Old 
Testament  usage,  138;  Did 
Jesus  found  one?  209 

"Economy,"  the,inTertullian, 
III 

Egyptians,  Gospel  according 
to  the,  330 

Elders,  at  Jerusalem,  160,  170; 
cp.  Presbyters 

Eleusis,  mysteries  of,  215 

Empedocles,  on  becoming  tJieos, 

52 

Emperor  of  Rome,  as  "Sav- 
iour," 12 

Encratites,  the  so-called,  44 

Ephesus,  2 

Epictetus,  39  ff.;  on  becoming 
theos,  53 ;  on  Providence,  76 ; 
on  God's  benefits,  257  f. 

Epiphanes,  son  of  Carpocrates, 
310 

Episcope,  function  of  super- 
vision, 172  ff.,  196 

Episcopos,  appHcations  of  the 
title,  168  f.,  in  the  Syriac 
Vulgate,  175.     See  Bishops. 

Eucharist,  the,  in  the  Teaching 
of  the  Twelve  Apostles,  261, 
269, 279,  282;  separated  from 
the  Agape,  262 ;  according  to 
Justin,  262,  277;  in  early 
frescoes,  264;  increasing  im- 
portance, 264  ff.;  in  epitaph 
of  Abercius,  266;  ideas  of 
thanksgiving,  268;  of  com- 
memoration and  commun- 
ion, 271  ff.;  language  of 
Paul,  275;  Ignatius,  276; 
Irenasus,  278,  283;  Cyprian, 
280,  284;  Origen,  281;  con- 
ception of  sacrifice,  281  ff.; 
Clement  of  Alexandria,  337; 
a  mystery,  432 

Eusebius,  on  the  Ebionites,  72 ; 
on  the  Monarchians,  133  ff.; 


on  the  Montanists,  201  ff.; 
on  Origen,  359  ff.  _ 
Exorcism  and  Exorcists,  in  the 
Church,  25;  at  baptism,  244; 
in  the  Roman  Church  under 
Cornelius,  414. 


Fabian,  bishop  of  Rome,  369, 

410 
Flavius     Clemens,    cousin    of 

Domitian,  3 
Florinus,  letter  of  Irenseus  to, 

133 

G 

Gnosis,  vouchsafed  by  Isis, 
225;  salvation  by,  287  ff.; 
in  the  Fourth  Gospel,  306; 
in    Clement   of   Alexandria, 

343 
Gnosticism,    opposed    by    the 
Church,   191;  as  a  religion, 
326;  influence  on  the  Church, 

327 
Gnostics,  the  name,  307;  sects, 
78,  307  ff.;  activities,  313; 
affinities  with  Pauline  teach- 
ing, 313;  problem  of  evil, 
313;  Valentinus  and  his 
disciples,  314  ff.;  the  person 
and  work  of  Christ,  325  f., 
432;  the  Christian  Gnostic, 

353  2- 

God,  as  Father  of  the  universe, 
76,  84,  87,  91,  346;  according 
to  Marcion,  80;  his  immuta- 
bility, loi;  his  blessedness, 
225;  in  Plutarch's  theology, 
291  ff.;  in  Philo,  299  ff.; 
self-sufficient,  305;  in  Gnos- 
tic teaching,  310;  a  Monad, 
317,  345  f. ;  in  Clement  of 
Alexandria,  345  ff . ;  in  Origen, 
378  ff.  .    ^ 

Gospels,  the,  4;  m  Irenasus,  99, 
193;  in  Christian  worship, 
252;  value  for  the  Church, 
429 


Index 


443 


Gospel  according,  to  St.  John, 
4,  6,  8  ff. ;  salvation  in,  47, 
306;  doctrine  of  the  Word, 
87;Heracleon'scommentar3% 
312,  315  fj. 

Gospel  according  to  the  Egyp- 
tians, 330 

Gospel  according  to  the  Hebrews, 
73.  330 

Gregory  Thaumaturgus,  367 

Gudea,  design  of  his  sanctuary, 
144 

H 

Hamack,    on    the    Gospel    of 

Healing,  20;  on  Marcion,  79; 

on  Simon  Magus,  309 
Heavens,  the  seven,  129,  322 
Hebrews,  Epistle  to  the,  5,  145, 

306 
Hebrews,    Gospel    according    to 

the,  73.  330 
Hegesippus,  travels  to  Rome, 

188 
Heraclcitus,  91,  329,  343 
Heracleon,     on     the     Fourth 

Gospel,  312,  315  ff, 
Hermas,  on  preaching  to  the 

dead,  36, 239;  on  the  Church, 

148;    Church    ofTicers,    175; 

disorders  in  the  Church,  199 

f-.  397 
Hermes,     as     the     messenger 

Logos,  74,  86 
Hermetic  books,  on  becoming 

theos,  54 
Hexapla,  the,  365 
Hippolytus,  on  becoming  theos, 

59;   Canons  of,   205   ff.;   on 

baptism,  241  ff. 
Ilomootisios,  of  the  Pneumatics, 

315;    contrast    the    Hylics, 

316;  repudiated  by  Clement 

of  Alexandria,  348;  applied 

to     the     Son     by     Origcn, 

381 
Hylics,     the,     in     Valentinian 

teaching,  315 
Hymn  oj  tlie  Soul,  320  ff. 


lamblichus,  on  prayer,  254 
Ignatius,  of  Antioch,  2  f.,  5; 
on  the  resurrection  of  the 
body,  33;  longs  for  martyr- 
dom, 45;  on  the  person  of 
Jesus,  yj,  116;  on  bishops, 
176  ff.;  the  three-fold  minis- 
try, 180  f.;  baptism,  247;  the 
Eucharist,    276;    a    mystic, 

305        .        . 

Immortality,  in  Jewish  hope, 
16;  in  Hellenism,  31;  a  seed 
imparted  in  baptism,  58  f., 
238 

Incarnation,  the,  in  Justin,  91, 
95;  in  Irena;us,  103  ff.;  pur- 
pose of,  according  to  Clement 
of  Alexandria,  334,  350  ff.; 
Origen,  383  ff. 

Irenasus,  on  the  millennial 
kingdom,  29;  on  becoming 
son  of  God,  58;  the  "Rule  of 
Faith,"  83;  origin  and  train- 
ing, 96;  bishop  of  Lyons,  97; 
treatise  against  the  Gnostics, 
98 ;  Scripture  and  the  Church, 
99;  Greek  elements  in  his 
theology,  loi ;  relation  of  the 
Father  and  the  Son,  102;  the 
person  of  Christ,  103;  doc- 
trine of  recapittdatio,  104; 
age  of  Jesus,  105;  the  two 
Natures,  106;  the  work  of 
Christ,  123  ff. ;  presbyters  at 
Rome,  175;  opposes  the 
Church  and  tradition  to 
Gnosticism,  191  ff.;  the 
Eucharist,  278 

Isis,  mysteries  of,  220  ff.; 
worshippers'  common  meal, 
259;  Plutarch  oh  the  name 
of  Isis,  225;  on  myth  of 
Osiris  and  Isis,  296 


James,  Epistle  of,  5 
James,  the  brother  of  the  Lord, 
69 


444 


Index 


Jerusalem,   community  at,   2, 
68;  Christians  flee  from,  70, 
430;    elders    at,    160,    170; 
Jersualem  above,  145 
Jesus    Christ,    made   man   for 
the  destruction  of  the  De- 
mons, 25;  as  Lord,  62;  the 
beloved  Servant,  76;  identi- 
fied   with    the    Spirit,     77; 
according    to    Ignatius,    77, 
116;    Marcion,    80;    in    the 
Roman  confession,    83;  ac- 
cording   to    Justin,    95    f.; 
Irenseus,  103  ff.,  Tertullian, 
114;  varying  conceptions  of 
his  work,  115  ff.;  in  Irenaeus, 
123  ff. ;  according  to  Mon- 
archianism,   134  f.;  Gnostic 
views  of  his  redeeming  work, 
324;  his  body,  325;  in  Clem- 
ent  of  Alexandria,  349    ff. ; 
Origen,  383  flf.;  significance 
of   his   historic   personalit}', 
429 
Jewish  Christians,  71  ff. 
Jewish  common  meals,  259 
John,  Gospel  according  to,  4,  6, 
8  fi.;   salvation  in,  47,   306; 
doctrine   of   the   Word,    87; 
Heracleon's  commentary  on, 
312,  315  ff. 
John,  First  Epistle  of,  56,  78 
Jove,  banquet  of,  272 
Jude,  brother  of  Jesus,  70 
Julius  Caesar  as  "divine  Sav- 
iour," 13 
Juliana  shelters  Origen,  368 
Justin  (the  Martyr),  on  diffu- 
sion   of    the    Christians,    3; 
why  Jesus  was  made  man, 
25.  91,  95,   118  ff.;  on  the 
millennial  kingdom,   29;  on 
Christians  who  believed  that 
souls  went  straight  to  heaven, 
33;    the  resurrection  of   the 
body,    33;    the    Christians' 
constancy,    40,    397;    Chris- 
tians   as    theoi,    56;    Jewish 
Christians,      71;      compares 
Gentile  figures  with  Christ, 


74;  Hermes  as  "  Son  of  God," 
86;  the  Logos  among  the 
Greeks,  90;  in  Christ,  91; 
the  argument  from  Scripture, 
94;  his  writings,  132;  "our 
mysteries,"  214;  denounces 
the  rites  of  Mithra,  226; 
baptism,  240;  the  Eucharist, 
262,  270  f.,  277;  as  philo- 
sopher, 306;  on  Greek  philo- 
sophers, 397 

K 

Kathari,  the,  415 

Kiss,  the,  of  brotherhood,  44, 
246 

Kriiger,  on  the  Roman  Confes- 
sion, 83 

Kyrios  (Lord),  as  a  title  of 
Christ,  63;  and  of  Oriental 
Deities  and  Roman  Emper- 
ors, 64  f. 


Lapsed,  the,  Cyprian  on,  407; 
degrees  of  guilt,  411;  con- 
troversy about  their  read- 
mission,  413  ff. 

Law,  pre-existence  of  the,  146 

Lectisternia,  the,  at  Rome,  272 

Leonides,  father  of  Origen, 
360  f. 

Libellatici,  the,  412,  414 

Libelli,  411 

Logos,  the,  in  Hellenist  philo- 
sophy, 85;  in  the  Hermetic 
books,  86;  worked  through 
Socrates,  90;  in  Christ,  91  ff. ; 
according  to  Irenaeus,  loi  ff. ; 
in  Tatian,  122;  in  Philo,  298 
ff . ;  in  Clement  of  Alexandria, 
340;  in  Origen,  379,  384 

Loots,  on  Monarchianism,  134 

Lord  {Kyrios),  as  a  title  of 
Christ,  63;  and  of  Oriental 
Deities  and  Roman  Emper- 
ors, 64  f . ;  identified  with  the 
Spirit,  68,  234 

Lord's  supper,  the,  259  ff. 


Index 


445 


Lucian,  on  the  Christian's 
enthusiasm,  46 

M 

Macedonia,  churches  of,  2 
Marcion,  his  teaching,   79  fl., 
389 ;  canon  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, 312 
Mark,  3,  330 

Martial,  bishop  of  Merida,  427 

Martyrdom,  desire  for,  45  f.; 

constancy  of  Christians  in, 

40.  397 

Maximilla,  a  Montanist  pro- 
phetess, 201  ff. 

Maximin,  persecution  under, 
368 

McGiffert,  on  the  Roman  con- 
fession, 83  ;  on  presbyters,  1 72 

McHto,  bishop  of  Sardis,  133 

Mcnander  of  Capparatea,  3 10 

Messiah  (Christ),  Jesus  made, 
62,  233;  as  heavenly  High- 
Priest,  145;  name  of  prc- 
existent,  146 

Michael  as  heavenly  High- 
Priest,  145 

Millennarianism,  in  Justin, 
29;  in  Irenaeus,  29,  128;  in 
the  Apocalypse,  164 

Miltiades,  an  Apologist,  133 

Minucius   Felix,   his   Octavius, 

133,  397 
Mithraism,    rites    of,    226    f. ; 

common  meal  in,  259 
Mithras-Liturgy,    on    identity 

with  Deity,  55;  the  new  birth, 

231 
Monad   applied   to  God,  317, 

345      ..         . 

Monarchianism,  in  Rome  and 
Carthage,  no;  different 
types,  133,  382  f.,  431   .     . 

Montanism,  origin  and  signi- 
ficance, 158,  201  ff.,  415; 
suppressed  by  Justinian,  205 

Moses,  sees  the  pattern  of  the 
Dwelling,  144;  prepared  in 
heaven,  146 


Musonius  and  the  Logos,  in 
Justin,  91 

Mysteries,  language,  and  ob- 
jects of  the,  213  ff.;  at  Eleu- 
sis,  215;  of  Osiris,  218;  Isis, 
220  ff.;  interpreted  by  Plu- 
tarch, 225;  of  Mithras,  226; 
Gnostic,  323;  Christian,  in 
Clement  of  Alexandria,  333 

N 

Name  of  Christ,  the,  its  power, 

21,  25;  pre-existent,  146 
Noetus,  a  Monarchian,  136 
Novatian,  at  Rome,  413  ff. 

O 

Odes  of  Solomon,  the,  48;  the 
unio  mystica,  51;  the  Word 
in,  87 

Olympus,  earthly  and  heaven- 
ly. 145 

Origen,  on  Christian  cures,  21, 
25;  the  Ebionites,  72;  the 
Eucharistic  bread,  281 ;  justi- 
fies the  study  of  philosophy, 
331;  his  career,  359  ff.; 
literary  labours,  365  ff.;  the 
Fourth  Gospel,  365,  432; 
as  teacher,  367;  his  theology, 
370  ff. ;  founded  on  the 
Church,  372;  and  the  Scrip- 
tures, 373;  treatise  on  First 
Principles,  378  ff.;  on  God, 
378;  the  Son,  379;  the  In- 
carnation, 383;  the  death  of 
Christ,  385;  origin  and  de- 
stiny of  souls,  387  ff. ;  re- 
mission of  sins,  402 

Orpheus,  affinities  with  Christ, 
61  f. 

Orphism  and  becoming  theos, 

Osiris,  mysteries  of,  218;  his 
body  and  blood,  274 


Pantsenus,  at  Alexandria,  331 


446 


Index 


Paradise    and    Gehenna,    pre- 

existent,  146 
Pastors,  in  the  early  Church, 

Patripassianism,  iii 
Paul,  the  Apostle,  his  letters,  5 ; 
on  the  ascetic  life,  42;  the 
believer's  union  with  Christ, 
47;     designates     Christ     as 
Lord,  63,  66;   identifies  the 
Lord  with  the  Spirit,  68;  life 
in  churches  founded  by  him, 
139  ff. ;  gifts  and  functions, 
150    flF. ;    on    baptism,    234 
ff.,     394;     on     the     Lord's 
Supper,  275,  279;  warns  the 
Colossians    against    Gnostic 
ideas,  309 
Paul  and  Thekla,  story  of,  44 
Paul  of  Samosata,  135,  431 
Pella,  Christians  at,  70 
Penitence,  Tertullian  on,  399 
Pepuza,  centre  of  Montanism, 

202 
Perpetua,    martyred    at    Car- 
thage, 47 
Perseus,  as  virgin-born,  74 
Persona,  in  Tertullian,  113 
Peter,  Epistles  of,  5;  i  Pet.  v.  2, 

174 

Peter,  Gospel  according  to,  36 

Peter,  Preaching  of,  307 

Peter,  Revelation  of,  32 

Philippi,  presbyters  and  dea- 
cons at,  175 

Philo,  on  assimilation  with 
Deity,  56;  theology,  297  ff., 
344,  349;  Sarah,  as  symbol 
of  philosophy,  331 

Philosophy,  influence  of,  287 
ff. ;  Tertullian  on,  309;  views 
of  Church  writers,  329;  value 
for  Clement  of  Alexandria, 
341;  studied  by  Origen,  362; 
its  defects,  371 

Phocas,  on  Christ's  teaching, 
122 

Pinytus,  bishop  of  Cnossus, 
189 

Pistis  Sophia,  312 


Plato,  on  demons,  23;  on  the 
future  hfe,  32  f.,  339;  on 
becoming  like  God,  56  f.; 
influence  on  the  Gnostics 
and  Clement,  310,  317,  341, 
344,  346  f.,  349;  denounced 
by  Tatian,  329 

Pleroma,  in  Valentinian  teach- 
ing, 318 

Pliny,  on  the  Christians,  i 

Plutarch,  of  Chaeronea,  on 
demons,  23;  on  temple- 
rituals,  32;  on  the  myth  of 
Isis,  225,  296;  his  theology, 
290  ff.,  344,  349 

Plutarch,  convert  of  Origen, 
361 

Pneumatic  Christology,  131 

Pneumatics,  in  Valentinian 
teaching,  315 

Poimandres,  on  becoming  theos, 

53 

Polycarp,  of  Smyrna,  known 
by  Irenaeus,  97,  196;  an 
apostolic  and  prophetic 
teacher,  159;  mentions  pres- 
byters and  deacons,  175; 
visits  Rome,  189;  laments 
the  fall  of  Valens,  199,  395 

Polycrates,  bishop  of  Ephesus, 
190 

Porphyry,  on  philosophy,  21; 
on  demons,  24;  on  Hermes 
and  the  Logos,  87;  on  Origen, 
362  f.,  371 

Prayer,  in  Hellenic  religion, 
252;  in  Hermetic  literature, 
254;  described  bylambUchus, 
2S4;  in  Christian  worship, 
256  ff. 

Praxeas,  and  Monarchianism, 

IIQ,  133,  136,  382 

Pre-existences  in  heaven,  144  ff. 

Presbyters  (elders),  166  ff.; 
relation  to  bishops,  172  ff.; 
in  the  Canons  of  Hippolytus, 
207 

Primus,  bishop  of  Corinth,  188 

Priscilla,  a  Montanist  pro- 
phetess, 201,  203 


Index 


447 


Prophecy,  early  Christian,  7, 
155;  Montanist,  201 

Prophets,  in  the  early  Church, 
1 54  ff . ;  in  the  Teaching  of  the 
Twelve  Apostles,  157;  false, 
denounced  by  Hermas,  200 

Psalms  of  Solomon,  14 

Psychics,  in  Valentinian  teach- 
ing, 315 

Ptolemy,  disciple  of  Valentinus, 

314 
Puritans,  415  f. 
Pythagoras,  33,  289,  317,  329, 

341 

Q 

Quadratus,  an  Apologist,  132 


R 


Rebirth,  in  religious  communi- 
ties, 229;  see  Birth,  the  new 
Redemption,  acc'ording  to  Cle- 
ment of  Rome,.  115;  Ignatius, 
116  f. ;  Justin,  119  f.;  Irenaj- 
us,  125;  in  Gnostic  teaching, 
313;  different modcsof  effect- 
ing it,   323;  in  Clement  of 
Alexandria,  352;  Origen,  385 
Refrigeriiim,  220 
Reformation,  the,  434 
Reign  of  the  saints  with  Christ, 

28  ff.,  128,  164 
Renatiis  in  eternum,  230 
Resurrection  of  the  body,  32  ff . 
Revelation,  book  of,  6  ff.,  156 
Revelation  of  Peter,  32 
Rome,  Christianity  at,  3 ;  prim- 
itive    confession,    83;     the 
Church  in,  172,  175,  196,358; 
Polycarp  visits,   189;    Cyp- 
rian's   relations    with,  414, 
418,  427 
Rule  of  Faith,  the,  83,  195 
Rule  of  Truth,  the,  83,  100 


Sabellius  and  Monarchianism, 
136,  383 


Sacrifice,  in  the  early  Church, 
162  f.;  the  Eucharist  as 
sacrifice,  268,  276,  281  ff. 

Salvation,  its  problems,  10; 
its  ideas  and  language,  12; 
in  Rome,  13,  and  in  Israel, 
14;  connection  with  immor- 
tality, 16;  from  sins,  17; 
physical  aspect,  19;  the 
coming  Wrath,  26;  scope, 
35;  limitations,  37;  the  fu- 
ture reward  of  righteousness, 
38;  of  encrateia,  44;  won  by 
martyrdom,  45;  already  real- 
ized, 47  ff. ;  by  philosophy, 
296,304  (cp.  Plutarch,  Philo) ; 
Gnostic  conceptions  of,  316 
ff.,  323;  in  Clement  of 
Alexandria,  336,  348;  Origen, 
387  ff.;  controlled  by  the 
bishop,  424 

Sarapis,  table  of  the  Lord,  64, 
259, 272 

Satan,  19,  106,  244.     See  Devil 

Saturus,  martyred  at  Carthage, 

47 

Saviour,  applications  of  the 
title,  12  ff.,  20 

Scala  ascensionis  ad  Deum,  198, 
208,  238 

Scriptures,  the  Jewish,  4,  98, 
430;  Justin's  argument,  94, 
120;  Irenasus,  192;  allegorical 
interpretation  by  Clement 
of  Alexandria,  343,  and 
Origen,  374  ff. 

Seal,  the,  of  baptism,  39;  con- 
ferred upon  the  dead,  239 

Serapion,  Eucharistic  prayer 
of,  281 

Servant,  a  title  of  Jesus  Christ, 
76 

"Seven, "  the,  at  Jerusalem,  159 

Seven  heavens,  the,  129,  322 

Seven  Rulers  (Gnostic),  322 

Severus,  persecution  under,  361 

Simon,  the  mage,  309 

Simon  of  Cyrene,  supposed  to 
have  taken  the  place  of 
Jesus  on  the  cross,  325 


448 


Index 


Sins,  cause  of,  In  Jewish 
thought,  1 7 ;  connection  with 
disease,  19;  remission  in 
baptism,  233,  246;  confession 
in  Church  prayers,  258,  395 
f.,  399;  in  the  Roman  Church 
(Hermas),  199,  398 

Smyrna,  2;  Irenseus  at,  97; 
Polycarp,  bishop  at,  97,  177, 
189,  196;  Ignatius  to  the 
Church,  180,  and  to  Poly- 
carp, 184 

Socrates,  and  the  Logos,  in 
Justin,  90,  329 

Son  of  God,  title  of  Augustus, 
14;  of  Jesus,  14;  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  77;  of  the  wise  man, 
74;  of  Christ  in  Ignatius,  77; 
in  Marcion,  81;  in  the  Rule 
of  Truth,  83;  of  the  Logos  in 
the  Hermetic  books,  87;  in 
Justin  and  Athenagoras,  93; 
in  Irensus,  102;  in  Tertul- 
lian.  III;  in  Philo,  300;  in 
Gnostic  teaching,  324;  in 
Clement  of  Alexandria,  350 
f. ;  in  Origen,  379  flf. 

Sophia  (Wisdom),  in  Valen- 
tinian  teaching,  318 

Soul,  hymn  of  the,  320  fT. ;  its 
return  to  its  heavenly  home, 
322;  creation  and  destiny 
according  to  Origen,  387  fT. 

Spirit,  the  Holy,  identified 
with  the  vSon,  "j"];  with  the 
Lord,  68,  234;  equated  with 
Wisdom,  93,  102  (Irenasus); 
in  Tertullian,  1 11;  113; 
identical  with  the  Church, 
147;  work  in  the  Church, 
152,  194  ff.,  234;  invoked  on 
bishops  and  presbyters,  207; 
conferred  in  baptism,  245, 
249,  261;  function  according 
to  Origen,  382 

Spiritual  marriages,  42,  408 

Stephen,  bishop  of  Rome,  418, 
427 

Stoics,  doctrine  of  Fate  repudi- 
ated, 40,  288;    influence  on 


Tertullian,    288;    ethics    in 
Clement  of  Alexandria,  345, 

355 
Substantia,  in  Tertullian,  112  f. 
Symeon,  son  of  Clopas,  70 


Tatian,  on  the  Logos,  93,  122; 
his  Address  to  the  Greeks,  132 ; 
attacks  philosophers,  329 

Taurobolium,  ritual  of  the, 
230 

Teachers,  in  the  early  Church, 
158;  in  the  Teaching  of  the 
Twelve  Apostles,  159 

Teaching  of  the  Twelve  Apostles, 
5,  39;  on  Apostles,  153;  on 
Prophets,  157;  on  Teachers, 
159;  on  Christian  worship, 
162;  Church  officers,  174; 
baptism,  238;  the  Eucharist, 
261;  confession  before  com- 
municating, 275,  396 

Temple,  in  the  fourth  heaven, 

145  . 

Tertullian,  on  the  resurrection 
of  the  body,  34;  the  "Rule  of 
Faith,"  83;  the  popular 
religion,  107;  education,  108; 
conversion,  109;  influences 
on  his  Christology,  no;  the 
Trinity,  II i;  the  generation 
of  the  Word,  112;  substantia 
and  persona,  113;  the  person 
of  Christ,  114;  his  Apologeti- 
cus,  133;  on  Praxeas  and  the 
monarchy,  133;  on  heresy 
and  the  Church,  210  flf.;  on 
baptism,  248  f . ;  the  Euchar- 
ist, 284;  influence  on  Cyp- 
rian, 359;  on  Penitence,  399; 
on  modesty,  400 

Testaments  of  the  Twelve  Pa- 
triarchs, 14 

Testimonium  veritatis,  in  Ter- 
tullian, 211 

Thales,  343 

Thanksgiving,  the,  see  Euchar- 
ist 


Index 


449 


Theanthropos,  term  coined  by 

Origen,  3«3        .         .    r.     , 

Thekla,  and  the  Apostle  Paul, 

44 
Theoctistus,    bishop    of    Cae- 

sarea,  364,  366 

Theodotus,  a  Monarchian,  at 
Rome,  134 

Theodotus,  disciple  of  Valen- 
tinus,  314,  324 

Theophihis,  of  Antioch,  on 
becoming  theos,  57;  on  the 
Logos  and  the  Trias,  93; 
condemns  philosophers,  329 

Theos,  Orphic  teaching  on 
becoming,  51;  Empedocles, 
52;  Epictetus,  53;  Poiman- 
dres,  53;  Hermes,  54;  Mith- 
ras-hturgy,  55;  Philo,  56; 
applied  to  Christians,  57  ff. 

Therapeuts,  the,  in  Egypt,  42; 
supposed  by  Eusebius  to  be 
Christians,  171;  their  com- 
mon meal,  260 

Thomas,  the  Apostle,  among 
the  Indians,  320 

I  Tim  iii,  v.  2,  and  v,  v.  17 — 

173 
Titus  i,  IV.  5-9 —  1 73 
Trajan,  consulted  by  Pliny,  I 
Trias,  according  to  Theophilus, 

93 

Trinity,  the,  in  Tertullian, 
III;  in  Origen,  382;  Sabcl- 
lius,  383 

V 

Valens,  presbyter  at  Philippi, 
199.  395 


Verbum,  in  Tertullian,  1 12 
Victor,   bishop   of    Rome,   ex- 
communicates     Theodotus, 
135;   action    in    the    Easter 
controversy,  175,  190 
Virgil,  9,  32 

W 

Waldenses,  the,  416 

"Way  of  Life,"  the,  39. 
396 

"  Way  of  Light, "  the,  39 

Wisdom,  beside  the  Logos  in 
God,  92,  379;  third  in  the 
Triad  of  Athenagoras,  93; 
created  the  Church  at  the 
beginning,  148;  Gnostic 
myth  of,  318  f. 

Word,  the,  in  the  Odes  of  Solo- 
mon, 87  f.;  in  Tertullian 
(verbum),  112.     See  Logos 

Work  of  Christ,  according  to 
Clement  of  Rome,  115;  vary- 
ing conceptions  of,  by  Igna- 
tius, Justin,  etc.,  116  ff.; 
Irenseus,  123  fT.;  Gnostic 
views,  324;  Clement  of 
Alexandria,      351;      Origen, 

383  ff- 
World-rulers,  the,   1 30 
Worship,  elements  of  Christian, 

252  R. 
Wrath,  salvation  from  the,  26 


Zephyrinus,  bishop  of   Rome, 
135  f.,  400 


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